From a ‘Time Out’ special on Covent Garden, 16-22 July 1986. “Peripatetic preppies catered for at J Simons.” John Simons is on the stool at the right. It looks as though the old till hadn’t yet arrived, though it’s gratifying to see the legendary J Simons shoe stretcher proudly on display. John now of course plies his trade with his son Paul with more gusto than ever from 46 Chiltern Street in Marylebone. But I still miss the old place…
When it looked like that it was still great. Towards the end you couldn’t get much past the door it was so full of odds and ends. Out of shot to the left, the shelves full of Sero and Geoffrey Scott BDs in their packets…