Costume shop Angels Fancy Dress ‘priced out’ of West End after 180 years
The Jewish family business, which has dressed A-listers for seven generations, was forced to move out of its West End location amid 'high rents and rates'
A family-run costume shop that dressed A-listers for seven generations was forced to move out of its West End location after 180 years amid “high rents and rates.”
Angels Fancy Dress vacated its iconic Shaftesbury Avenue location last week into its warehouse on Garrick Road in Hendon.
A statement from the Jewish family business posted on Facebook on Wednesday revealed management will announce a new central London “ASAP.”
The West End institution was recognised by BAFTA in 2016 for its “outstanding contribution to British film.”
The costume shop was first established in central London in 1840 by Morris Angel, the son of a German-born tailor who settled in Covent Garden in 1813.
Since its founding, Angels Fancy Dress has dressed members of the Royal family and the likes of Laurence Olivier, Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep – and Beyonce.
Over the years, its costumes appeared in over 30 Academy Award winning films – such as Doctor Zhivago, Gladiators, Titanic and Moulin Rouge.
Speaking to the Press Association, Emma Angel, 45, who manages the costume house with her father Tim, said: “At present, an independent store owner can be paying well over half a million pounds per year in rates and rents.
“We are being priced out of London because of high rents and rates. People talk about the death of the high street, but whilst big stores are dying because of online retail, the rates and rents in London are still extremely expensive.”
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