Lost Gems of London: Allens, Mount Street
By Something CuratedQ: What’s your name and what do you do here at Allens of Mayfair?
Maxim: My name is Maxim Malcom, I manage the shop Allens of Mayfair on a daily basis from Monday to Friday
Q: Please tell us about your store and what makes it unique?
Maxim: It’s old fashioned, it has a lot of products, different cuts of meat, different products whether it’s cooked meat or jars, ambient products, and it’s just a good selection all year around.
Q: What are your current most popular items?
Maxim: Lamb racks, carvery rib of beef and veal racks as well.
Q: What distinguishes you in terms of the service you provide?
Butcher: Quality, experience and that what it is a lot, the experience. I have done 50 years, which is quite a long time. There are not many things which you don’t know at this point, of course you are still learning and there is always someone else selling what you haven’t got, but we try our best for our customers.
Maxim: The costumers like the look of the shop as well, its old you know.
Butcher: They do a lot of film work here and things like that.
Maxim: You get a lot of people come in just to take pictures.
Q: Tell us a little about the store design and how it fits your brand?
Maxim: It has been here for 180 years and it’s well known. Before we did have a lot of catering through here. We did supply 80 percent of our customers within 2 mile ranges
Butcher: which is the hotels, the restaurants. It is a matter of quality.
Q: Has the design been kept the same the whole time?
Maxim: Yeah, you can tell by the table, which is at least 50 years, minimum
Butcher: It is very old, it has been here even over a 100 years
Maxim: and the bull is 30 years old
Q: How long have you been here?
Maxim: I have been here for 5 years, gentleman here has been here for 20 years
Q: How has Mount Street changed since you’ve been here?
Maxim: not that much
Butcher: well it has gone really designer shops now, they are all down here and you know, that is the way it’s gone. There used to be a lot of smaller shops, but now it’s all hand bag shops. There are four handbag shops and has never been like that. It has been bakers and things like that. It really has changed since I have been here.
Maxim: I have been here for 5 years and all i have seen is designer shops, galleries and well know brand. Like across the road, Karen Millen.
Butcher: it was a banker at one point then it was a travel agents, it very big premises in there. It has gone like that and it keeps changing.
Q: What is unique about this street as a retail destination?
Butcher: Well it probably is the most expensive street in London.
Q: What portion of customers are local Mayfair residents, London residents and what portion are international visitors?
Maxim: A lot of them are local, probably 75% are locals. We have our own costumers that keep on coming back, even the ones that move out they end up coming back. And plus we do Allens online all over the country.
Q: Do you think the Connaught Hotel attract many customers here?
Butcher: Yea. There are costumers who take things home with them. Of course certain countries like America cannot take good with them, but other ones they take bag of meat with them.
Maxim: Last week we had a butchery lesson and a couple from the Connaught Hotel came over to do a butchery course which lasted two hours and they took the meat back to Connaught and the chef cooked it for them. So it has its perks.
Q: Do you have any plans to open in other locations soon?
Maxim: They did think of doing that before the recession, so maybe it will come back on board. But nothing concrete. They did look at it and it was an interesting thing to do.
