{"id":203360,"date":"2022-04-07T16:10:49","date_gmt":"2022-04-07T15:10:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/?p=203360"},"modified":"2022-04-07T18:50:30","modified_gmt":"2022-04-07T17:50:30","slug":"the-interview-simon-quayle-executive-director-shaftesbury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/the-interview-simon-quayle-executive-director-shaftesbury\/","title":{"rendered":"The Interview: Simon Quayle, Executive Director, Shaftesbury"},"content":{"rendered":"
This year marks the 25th<\/sup> anniversary since retail estate investment trust company Shaftesbury PLC acquired the majority of the Carnaby estate in London\u2019s West End, comprising the world famous Carnaby Street and its 13 surrounding streets.<\/strong><\/p>\n Going back to 1997, when Shaftesbury was on the verge of making its offer, Carnaby Street was quite a different proposition to what it is today. In fact, it was quite tatty version of its former self, filled with downmarket tourist shops and cheap jeans stores, having once been the epicentre of fashion and the birthplace of \u2018Swinging London\u2019 in the 1960s.<\/p>\n In the late 1970s and early 80s the area became something of a Mod hangout, retaining some element of cool before its slippery slope into a tourist trap. It was Shaftesbury, headed by the direction of Executive Director, Simon Quayle, who had a vision to return the area to its former glory, with a new strategy focusing on attracting new up-and-coming brands and designers, independents and concept stores from established brands with a point of difference, as well as UK firsts for international fashion brands.<\/p>\n Quayle tells TheIndustry.fashion about Shaftesbury\u2019s Carnaby story so far.<\/p>\n How did Shaftesbury come to acquire the majority of the Carnaby estate in 1997?<\/strong><\/p>\n Going back slightly earlier, to 1994, we bought a small lot of properties which included four shops in the south end of Carnaby Street, and a few small shops on Beak Street. We didn\u2019t actually have intentions of acquiring more of the area at that time. However, in 1996, we were approached by Wereldhave, the Dutch company that then owned about two thirds of what we own now, to see if we were interested in acquiring what they had. They were quoting \u00a369.5m for their parts of the estate. It was certainly of interest to us and, because by then we\u2019d \u2018lived\u2019 at the bottom end of the street for two years, we had a bit of a feeling for it. We then got our property agents to help us appraise it and we came to a value in excess of \u00a380m.<\/p>\n We knew it was going to be a very competitive market, with a lot of people interested, so, because it was a closed bid situation, we actually decided to bid \u00a390m in the end as we believed it was a game-changing acquisition. We completed the purchase in February 1997.<\/p>\n