Hat's Off

For well over a century, ‘the man with the hat’ – a Victorian gentleman wearing a bowler hat over a large clock – dominated the Old Kent Road in south London. This celebrated landmark stood above the first shop opened by the hatter George Carter in 1856. George Carter was not only a skilled craftsman, he was also a natural entrepreneur who established a successful business providing good-quality menswear at prices that the growing population of London and the south-east could easily afford.

George Carter’s remained a family firm, and the founder’s business acumen was passed down the generations as the company expanded. Only in the unfavourable economic climate of the 1970s was the decision taken to move out of retailing – by which time George Carter’s sister company, Surrey Investments, was well established in the commercial property market.

Diana Jones, George Carter’s great-granddaughter, has drawn on family and company documents and personal memories to produce this fascinating evocation of a close-knit family firm and of the larger-than-life characters who contributed to its success.