Last month I was in the Crouch End shop with a friend and he* found for me a wonderful little book by and about Montague Burton and Company telling us how bloody marvelous they are/were.
It's a fabulous bit of self promotion:
That's Monty on the top row next to an aerial shot of the Workshops Estate at Hudson Road Mills, Leeds, showing how big some of the factories were
Benefits of being a Burton's employee included; sing-songs while during work hours at the factory, dentists, doctors and nurses on site, morale-boosting visits by VIPs and royalty, plus social events, outings, theater and dramatic associations, indoor sports facilities at work, a variety of external sports clubs, and much more.The clothes were then distributed to Burton's distinctive and imposing shops. Their store at 118-132 New Oxford Street (end of Tott Ct Rd) was, in its day, the largest tailoring establishment in the world. Oh yes; this was a big company, make no mistake.
The back section of the book shows page after page of illustrations of all the Burton stores. I can see this is going to keep me quite absorbed for some time yet.... :-)
*Luckily I found him Pevsner's Middlesex Guide in the same shop.