London's first fancy dress shop Angels shuts in rent row

One of the UK's oldest theatrical costume suppliers has left London's West End claiming it has been "priced out" by rising rent and rates.

Angels Fancy Dress, on Shaftesbury Avenue, has been providing costumes since 1840 and has also supplied more than 40 Oscar-winning movies.

The family-run firm said independent stores could be paying £500,000 for "an empty unit without stairs or toilets".

Daniel Angel opened the shop after arriving from Frankfurt in 1813.

Oscar winning costumes

Angels Costumes, a sister company, has supplied costumes for 40 movies to win Oscars for Best Costume including:

• Laurence Olivier's Hamlet in 1948

• Dr Zhivago

• Star Wars

• Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them (2017)

• Little Women (2019)

It has also provided outfits for countless TV and theatre productions including Doctor Who, Downton Abbey, Peaky Blinders, Call the Midwife, War Horse, and Wicked.

The outlet will leave the West End at the end of its long lease as the landlord planned to renovate or change the building's use, but it has been unable to find a new store "due to crippling London rates and rents".

Camden Council is responsible for collecting business rates in the area which are set by government.

"As part of our drive to deliver an inclusive and mixed economy across Camden we will continue to push for business rate reforms," a spokesman said.

Angels Fancy Dress has provided costumes since it opened two years after Queen Victoria's coronation

Anti-social behaviour in recent years had caused the firm added expense too, as it was forced to hire security after its shop windows were smashed eleven times in the past three years.

"Organised drug dealing blights this area and with it comes a lot of bad behaviour."

"Homelessness is not the problem, unimpeded drug dealing is a problem," added Emma Angel.

Clothes for auditions

Initially serving as a second-hand clothing store from 1813, it was turned into a costumiers by his son Morris Angel to service London's theatreland.

At the time, many actors had to provide their own clothes for auditions and performances.

When it first opened the Angels shop kitted out actors who had to provide their own costumes

As Tim Angel, current CEO and chairman, commented in recent company biography, Behind The Seams, "Often a part would not go to the actor who gave the best performance, but the one who had the best suit."

Morris soon realised actors were prepared to pay a deposit and a small fee simply to borrow costumes, and so the concept of "costume hire" was born.

Despite being forced to move out of central London for now, the family said it was committed to bringing an Angels Fancy Dress store back.

In the short term, it will move to north London, sharing space with its costume business, which contains more than 1.5 million costumes for TV, theatre and movies.