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Tag Archives: Mall

Ghosts of Farlows.

17 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by The tuesday swim in Tackle

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

andrews, arcadia, club, Farlows, fishing, fly, history, john, knott, london, Mall, pall, wilton

Farlows of Pall Mall took on a slightly different mood yesterday as John Andrews of Arcadia and John Knott, author of the recently published ‘The History of Wilton Fishing Club’, both greeted visitors to No 9 Pall Mall, London.

John Andrews Farlows sepia

Fishing tackle shops for me have become a lost world that only conjures up memories of childhood, sadly all the ones with character have nearly all but gone. I have mixed emotions about Farlows now, when I first moved to London in the early nineties Farlows was still an exciting place to visit, situated on the corner of Burlington Arcade and Piccadilly, a small packed shop full of tackle, a place of questions and discovery. From what I can recall the staff were generally elderly and extremely polite, even to a young rascal like myself who insisted on handling the large aray of Hardy rods and reels. I of course had no intention in buying but they knew that so with a little guilt I would purchase the odd nymph or dry-fly.

At that time there were still a few good local tackle shops surviving around London but the only other ‘premier’ tackle shop based in central London was Hardys (coincidentally in Pall Mall), this place seemed very upmarket to me and quite intimidating with its dark suited staff in comparison to the more friendlier and informal Farlows.

Farlows holds on in 2013 with speculation of buy-outs from afar but throughout the day a little soul was given back to Farlows as tea was poured and a hand of Happy Families was played across the counter.



61 Pall Mall.

17 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by The tuesday swim in Tackle

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

61, dealer, Hardys, historic, london, lost, Mall, old, pall, shop, store, tackle

Twenty or so years ago I walked into 61 Pall Mall and was addressed as “Sir” quite an achievement for me at that time as I was a scruffy looking art student dressed in ripped jeans and a leather biker jacket. The man who addressed me looked more like an undertaker rather than the normal tweed clad (this is how you are supposed to dress like in the countryside young man, don’t you know) shop assistant. I was addressed with respect and asked no awkward questions regarding my request, a Hardy waxed wading jacket. A suitable jacket was found, wrapped and paid for with a credit card that was on the brink of letting me down, those two dreaded words ‘card declined’ thankfully didn’t flash up and I marched triumphantly out of Hardys with a waxed jacket. I was not going to wear this on the chalk streams of southern England but in the shady bars and night clubs of Shoreditch, East London. One day I would wear it on the Itchen or Nadder but until then I was to make my rural fashion statement in the Vale of Hoxton!

Soon after Hardy’s of number 61 Pall Mall closed down, my wading jacket still hangs in the basement and has since been blessed on the rivers banks of southern England for brown trout and Scotland in search of salmon. Looking back now I never thought that 61 Pall Mall was an era on the brink of extinction, I thought this establishment was to go on for ever, sadly it didn’t. If I had known of its impending demise I would have spent more time in there.

For those who remembers the wooden panelled shop and its calm atmosphere only broken by the occasional New York accent of an excited over seas visitor, you may also remember the changing faces of the shop window…


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