(London Evening Standard)

A couple of tailors' dummies lie discarded on Savile Row.
Nearby are half a dozen sewing machines. The shop they came from is dark.
A 'Sale' sign hangs in the window. It's a Monday lunchtime. People walk by without giving the sorry pile of rubbish a second look. This month, four tailors' firms are being thrown out of 30-32 Savile Row. The building will be knocked down in May and redeveloped, providing 9,500sq ft of retail space.

The Pounds 40 million development is being carried out by City and West End Developers for the Pollen Estate, which owns more than 40 properties in the West End.

Down the road, a cement mixer blocks the street, pumping into the foundations of Nos 4-6.

This hole in the ground used to be a Fifties office building. It's being developed by Benchmark for Pollen, and will be completed next spring, with offices and a plum retail site of 4,500sq ft. And it looks as if the cement mixers are going to be disturbing the peace of Savile Row for some time.

Planning has been approved for a new building at No 23, on the site of the English Heritage headquarters. The developers, Stanhope, plan to put a retail unit on the corner of Conduit Street and Savile Row. Next up for development is 9-10 Savile Row, on another Pollen property, currently home to a handful of tailors. Their leases have just been extended by five years.

The Savile Row of tradition is being disbanded.

In its place will come cafes and boutiques: vast, pristine shops selling fashion. Savile Row has been the centre of gentlemen's tailoring for well over a century: the established tailors cater to captains of industry and chairmen of banks, princes and kings. In the Sixties, the street was shaken when young tailors such as Tommy Nutter made suits for pop stars, based on traditional bespoke models, with an outrageous twist. Ten years ago, another set of newcomers moved in, including Richard James and William Hunt, selling offthepeg suits that took less time to make and cost half the price. The older tailors felt the squeeze of modern competition, but most survived.

The recent developments are a greater threat.

The most distinguished of the tailors, Anderson Sheppard, has occupied three floors at No 32 for 80 years. But the lease has expired and they are packing up. The managing director, John Hitchcock, looks around the dingy workshops and threadbare changing rooms and acknowledges the old premises are a little 'tired'.

In the basement, rows of brown paper patterns hang on strings, each one named after the client.

In a top-floor workshop, an Italian finisher perches beside a heater, handstitching buttonholes, just as she has done for decades. It's the end of an era.

'We are the proper old tailors. A lot of the people coming into the street' Hitchcock pauses wistfully. 'Well, if you went down the road, they've got a machine for making buttonholes.

Other people are more upset about us leaving Savile Row than we are. If you take the real thing away, what have you got left?' Anderson Sheppard has found smaller premises in Old Burlington Street but everyone agrees it's not the same. The owner, Tiny Rowland's widow, Josie, tried to negotiate a deal to come back to the building after the development, but talks ended acrimoniously. Hitchcock says the developers are creating units too small for tailors' workshops. 'They want to make more RGB profit here,' he says. 'But you can only put the rents up so far. It's all right for people selling readymades, but they're nowhere near the real thing.' Pollen has an interest in over 50 per cent of Savile Row; it has held the freeholds since the estate was set up in 1812. When Hardy Amies moved in after the Second World War, leases were granted restricting the buildings for the use of high-class tailors. Under the new plans, leases will include Mike Jones, from property consultants Drivers Jonas, acting for the Pollen Estate, has already approached designers, including Stella McCartney and Ozwald Boateng, about the lease for the ground floor at Nos 4-6. 'We want to liven up Savile Row, make it a more exciting place,' he explains. 'We think it is lacking activity and needs tidying up and improving. We wouldn't want Boots or Clinton Cards here, but Stella McCartney, Paul Smith, why not?' fashion retail.

In his bid to update Savile Row, Jones has asked the traditional tailors to open on a Saturday and to give their shops direct access to the street, so potential customers can walk in without feeling intimidated. The tailors are afraid that, if they fail to comply, they could find themselves following Anderson Sheppard out on to the street.

'I am worried,' says Mark Henderson, chief executive of Gieves Hawkes. 'It's the last place in London where there are craftsmen working. Craftsmen are expensive; but rents will go up. It's a serious threat. I shall be very sad to see Savile Row go the way of other high streets. We're going to do everything we can to stop it.' Like other tailors, including Anderson Sheppard, Henry Poole has appealed to Westminster City Council to intervene on their behalf, and has found them sympathetic. When Queensbury House in Savile Row was recently developed, Westminster played a part in ensuring the leases were restricted to tailoring. Mike Jones acknowledges there has been friction: 'I'm keen to move forward, and try to create spaces people want, but there are entrenched views around, which I find disappointing.' With tension mounting, two months ago Jones invited stakeholders to a meeting in the showroom of Gieves Hawkes, at No 1. His proposals did not go down well. Angus Cundey, the silver-haired managing director of Henry Poole, listened to the presentation. 'Mike Jones had been going on about Saturday opening, traffic calming, pedestrianising the street. I got up and said, "I represent the oldest firm here. We made Savile Row what it is, and now the Pollen Estate is trying to muscle in. If we carry on like this, it will be an upmarket Carnaby Street." I was applauded.' The dispute is further exacerbated by the generation gap between traditional tailors such as Huntsman and Henry Poole, and newer arrivals such as Ozwald Boateng and Spencer Hart who are less opposed to change. While the old tailors maintain that the new boys have lowered standards, fashion commentators believe they have revitalised Savile Row and brought in a youthful clientele.

'There is a schism in the street,' says one recent arrival. 'We call them the shooting/fishing people. It's a changing environment and they're suffering because they haven't kept up.' William Hunt, whose bespoke clients include the Beckhams, are pleased about the new development: 'The more the merrier. We welcome the competition.' And they believe that making the street more attractive to shoppers is no bad thing. The Row suffers from its stuffy reputation. The old school would prefer to keep things this way. 'Savile Row is not a retail thoroughfare,' says William Skinner, managing director of Dege Skinner at No 10, who runs the tailoring business founded by his greatgrandfather. Indeed, new retailers have struggled to make a profit.

'Hackett tried it and lasted six months. They failed miserably, it wasn't their clientele,' says Skinner. Margaret Howell attempted to lure customers with a Savile Row address but closed after a year. Jil Sander took over a magnificent former Bank of Scotland building on the corner of Vigo Street, and created a twostorey retail temple, with domed skylights and columns but no customers. The manager admits they may be forced to look for a new site because of the lack of passing trade. But if Pollen has its way, all that will change.

The problem for the traditional tailors is that they need more space than the new arrivals. Because ready-to-wear suits are made up in Cheshire or China, the menswear shops can afford bigger showrooms, and, as rents go up, tailors will inevitably be forced to give up their workshops.

'The most important thing is how we train for the future,' says Angus Cundey. 'We train all our staff. If our workshops were somewhere else, we would not be able to any more.' 'It takes ten years to train a cutter or a tailor,' says Mark Henderson.

'That's a major investment.

If the street is opened to general custom, people will stop putting money into training.

That would be a terrible shame.' A further problem is the antiquated business approach. The traditional tailors' clients come to town on business, stay at Claridge's and their chauffeurs take them to Savile Row after breakfast. One of the oldest tailors estimates that no more than ten per cent of their customers walk in off the street. It would be unthinkable to undertake anything as undignified as marketing. But these practices have caused losses. Huntsman went into receivership last December, and only recovered by cutting staff. Chester Barrie went into receivership two years ago, and has since been bought by retail group SRG.

According to John Hitchcock, Anderson Sheppard has only survived thus far with the support of wealthy clients (they divulge no names, but Prince Charles is said to be among them, as, ironically enough, is the developer Patrick Despard). The new building, for example, has been designed by a friend of the owner. 'You're not going to make a fortune out of tailoring,' says Hitchcock. 'But a lot of customers will try to help. They like the old traditions.' The more forward-looking retailers would consider this no way to do business. Some Savile Row tailors have undergone extensive rebranding and changed their business practices to compete in the new environment. Kilgour French Stanbury (established 1882) redesigned its storefront, shortened its name to Kilgour, and introduced a ready- to-wear range that now comprises 60 per cent of sales. Managing director Hugh Holland is convinced the old tailors need to modernise to survive. Like some of the other tailors, he has had positive talks with Mike Jones.

'I am delighted by the developments,' says Holland. 'It means the old tailors will have to knock their business into shape and not rely on the largesse of the landlord. Savile Row tailors think they have a God-given right to exist. One hopes that Henry Poole and Huntsman will modernise. We became a menswear business; they are still using business practices that went out last century.' At the top of the street, Gieves Hawkes (established in the 18th century) has made a visible effort to modernise, with a huge image of a winsome lad in the window. Their bespoke service is now just 20 per cent of turnover, but in that department they are pioneers, with the first female cutter on Savile Row. And it was here that Alexander McQueen earned his tailoring stripes.

'We have learned to work more with the customer,' says bespoke manager Ray Stowers, whose clients include the Sultan of Brunei.

'Younger people have money, they know what they want. In the past it used to take 12 to 16 weeks to make a suit; we're trying to cut that down. We've made suits in a couple of days for important people. We've softened our image, we don't look stuffy any more. We bend a bit, where other shops are too rigid.

The problem with Savile Row is that it's a job you can do till you drop dead.' It isn't easy to attract new customers while retaining the old. When Gieves started selling ripped jeans, some of their bespoke customers were appalled. Henry Poole still refuses to mix ready-to-wear with bespoke, since their customers value exclusivity. Instead, they subsidise their bespoke service with licensing deals in Japan and China, and make frequent trips to the US to service wealthy American clients. But for those prepared to open the doors to new custom, there is still a healthy market for traditional tailoring.

Richard Anderson worked at Huntsman for 20 years before starting his own business four years ago. About 80 per cent of his work, and all the cutting, is done on site, but with a more contemporary- looking shop, he bridges the generation gap. His clients include pop stars Westlife, footballers, actors such as Sir Ian McKellen, media people, as well as the 'established aristocracy' and rich Americans.

'A lot of our younger clients were daunted by the older shop,' he says.

'There is definitely a market, but one has to have the right approach and keep maintaining the end result.

The service and quality of garments is exactly the same as at Huntsman.'

'There's more of a market than there's ever been,' says Dylan Jones, editor of GQ magazine.

'It used to revolve around the upper classes, but that has been thrown up in the air. Savile Row has been rejuvenated by Richard James, Ozwald Boateng, Spencer Hart and William Hunt. You'll see lawyers, footballers, everybody.

It's thriving.' For the time being, the old tailors are hanging on, but none of them is cheerful about the future. Skinners expects to see a 50 per cent increase in rent at the next review. Kilgour is currently negotiating its lease with Pollen, while the rent has increased from Pounds 70,000 to Pounds 100,000 a year. When Kilgour's building is redeveloped, it hopes to come back, but competition for ground-floor space is likely to intensify.

Of the tailors moving out of No 32, Chester Barrie has managed to secure an empty shop at No 19 across the road. William Hunt has premises at No 41, but took a six-month lease at No 32 because he wanted to get first refusal on the new building. Hield, the textile mill recently turned tailors, has failed to find premises in Savile Row, and is moving to Lowndes Square in Knightsbridge. Savile Row is a world-famous brand (the word for bespoke suit in Japanese is the approximate pronunciation, 'subiro'), and the international clientele is increasingly serviced by tailors flying out for fittings, particularly to the US.

It may be that traditional tailors will eventually abandon the street. But for now, Mike Jones's retail ambitions require the continued presence of a few traditional tailors, to maintain a classy environment. 'I think it's important they display their wares,' he says. 'That's one of the charms of the street.' But it is a charm that may soon be lost.