I agree with Fruity's sentiments but we must put the deal in perspective. It appears that Rayner & Sturges (and its associated brands) was dead. If the Armoury (and I am not a fan) can keep the business going that will be great news for the factory workers in Somerset.

Good to keep it going but did those who prised Hong Kong out of the Chinese a hundred odd years ago ever dream that the Hong-Kongsters would, a century later, be buying up the remains of Ye Olde England at such a pace!

Last edited by NJS (2013-08-10 03:51:04)

Ugh! it's from

'Crompton's Take' -

which is the new name of his blog (from next week).

Worked there for just over a year - Mr Barker of R&S lost the John Lewis order and Ben Sherman last summer - leaving very little work....... there is a high turn over of staff and 1 goes approx every month (there are only about 30-35 staff in england) ..........most orders, when I was there last year (2012) were for pink shirts and Mr Boyd changed the pay dates 6 times from May - Dec .........giving approx 3 days notice each time ......in the end my bank advised me to phone ACAS ..........I left in Jan 2013.........our orders had gone from 160 a day to 3 if we were lucky ..........Mr Boyd did have a factory in Vietnam, as this is where a lot of the shirts were made and shipped back to England to be checked - don't know what he's done with this factory  - hid it maybe

John Barker took over as floor manager in June 2012 and by Dec had lost us the Ben Sherman order and John Lewis order .........leaving Ede and Ravenscroft ...........looks like they have since gained Crombie