Cornish clotted cream, Scottish smoked salmon ...and London's own Savile Row

The famed tailoring district draws customers from all over the world yet enjoys none of the legal protections of other heritage icons. Men's outfitter Richard James might be a relative newcomer, but its co-founder believes the street deserves special status

- Dominic Bliss

WHEN Elton John and Gianni Versace walked into his Savile Row showroom, suit designer Sean Dixon knew it would be no ordinary day. The British pop legend and the Italian fashion designer both had their respective partners with them, and it wasn't long before the four men had purchased virtually every shirt, suit and tie in the entire store.

"They called me up later from their car to apologise," Sean remembers of that day in the mid-1990s, not long after he and Richard James had launched their business in Mayfair, London's renowned tailoring district. "I said, 'You don't need to apologise." But we didn't have that much stock. They more or less bought up the whole shop." Sean can't recall how much money Elton and Versace spent. "But back then, it felt like life-changing numbers," he says. Nowadays Richard James is a well established name on Savile Row, with two 2,500-square-foot showrooms one on the famous street, the other just off it. They also have a shop on Park Avenue, in New York.

With 71-year-old Richard James_now retired, co-founder Sean, who believes Savile Row as a brand needs more legislative protection, of which more shortly, is at the helm as managing director.

He has just spent £2million relaunching his second premises on adjacent Clifford Street, where his made-to-measure and bespoke suits are fitted and tailored. It's a beautiful three-storey Georgian townhouse, with a workshop in the basement, off-thepeg clothes on the ground floor and, upstairs, via a polka dot-carpeted staircase, a bespoke fitting area and a bar for customers.

"A cathedral to tailoring," is how the company describes it. MPs were urged this week to grant Savile Row suits, and other non-produce craft producers, the same legal protections as heritage food and drink brands.