Great British Sewing Bee helps give Ipswich shop a boost

Laurence Franklin, centre, with his eldest son Jason, left, and his nephew Jordan, said demand for sewing items had increased

Lockdowns, the cost of living and the BBC's The Great British Sewing Bee have given a long-running town centre shop a boost in business, its director said.

Family-run sewing shop Franklins has opened its doors in new, larger premises in Ipswich.

Laurence Franklin said the business, which had been in the town for more the 60 years, needed to move to meet an increase in demand.

He said there was a "new age range of people" learning sewing skills.

The new shop in Westgate Street, a stone's throw away from its old premises in St Matthew's Street, is the business's third location in the town.

The new store is on Westgate Street, about 50 metres further into town from its previous shop on St Matthew's Street

Mr Franklin, who is the second generation to run the business, said it had been in the St Matthew's Street building for 17 years and each shop had got "bigger and bigger".

"The demand for our products is growing and people are wanting to be more crafty and creative with their time so we thought we've got to move to a much bigger place," he said.

"There's a whole new age range of people wanting to customise or accessorise garments.

"There are a lot of young people coming into sewing... with the Great British Sewing Bee on TV as well."

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Mr Franklin said the Covid lockdowns and rising cost of living had also contributed to the trend.

"People 'make do and mend' a little bit, but you can, even on a garment, just change the buttons and it changes the look so people are doing more and more of that too, to get more use out of their garments and obviously that prevents landfill, etc," he added.

The old store was on St Matthew's Street (just behind the parked white van), which had been there for 17 years

Mr Franklin said they also planned to establish classrooms in the building so people could learn how to dressmake and knit.

The Franklins Group, established in 1956, also has stores in Colchester, Chelmsford and Dovercourt in Essex, and Salisbury in Wiltshire.