The Tower of Babel – Shop of the Day No.83
Rising near the top again now and to one of the most distinctive Department Stores in London. Open since 1875 and known for its patterned fabrics and eclectic decorative furnishings. You may not know that the Tudor revival building was built in the 1920’s from the timbers of two ships: HMS Impregnable and HMS Hindustan. The frontage on Great Marlborough Street is the same length as the Hindustan.
Liberty’s London store was sold for £41.5million and then leased back by the firm in 2009, to pay off debts ahead of a sale. Subsequently, in 2010, they were taken over by private equity firm BlueGem Capital in a deal worth £32million. Which is surprisingly alot less than some of the yachts we were looking at last week!
©Barnaby Barford 2014