Ted Baker quits Ugly Brown Building HQ for Gorgeous Brown Building

Ted Baker has signed a 10-year lease with Westminster City Council on a new company HQ and expects to move in next summer.

The relocation to 101 Cleveland Street, in Fitzrovia, which carries a rent of £900,000 a year, marks a significant shift for the retailer, which has been based in King’s Cross for 20 years

Ted Baker said the move would enable considerable rent savings, with current charges at its King’s Cross base – called the Ugly Brown Building – of £3.25m, and up to £4.2m if it took up an option to lease another block.

Ted Baker had previously owned the Ugly Brown Building but it was sold to British Airways Pension Trustees for £78.8m last year following the departure of the company's founder Ray Kelvin.

The new HQ will be named the Gorgeous Brown Building, and the company said it was "a fitting home for the brand with its distinctive flatiron shape and epic ceiling heights”.

CEO Rachel Osborne added: “It will enable us to work more efficiently and collaboratively, and most importantly to express our unique brand personality.

“We look forward to making our team members comfortable and hosting our global partners in our new showrooms from summer 2022.”