The world’s oldest dry cleaners which laundered outfits for Princess Anne, Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill has shut down after 187 years.
Bradleys Dry Cleaners, which was first opened in 1832 in central London by Samuel Bradley Senior, has seen Winston Churchill and wife Lady Clementine among its famous clients.
The family business, which boomed in the 1920s when it commissioned six cars to offer clients a bespoke taxi service, has also worked on Margaret Thatcher’s iconic blue suits, Princess Anne’s wedding dress and catered for royals from the Saudi Kingdom.
Trusted with the garments of the rich and famous, the family-run operation, which was able to open a shop in East Finchley as their client list continued to grow, was at one point rumoured to be storing £500,000 worth of winter furs in its flagship store.
Bradleys Dry Cleaners (flagship store in London pictured), which first opened in 1832, has shut down the last dry cleaning store of the family empire
The family store has looked after former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s iconic blue suits (pictured) and have laundered outfits for a number of celebrities
The first Bradleys store (pictured) was opened in 1832 in London and later turned into a Boots pharmacy
As the family-run business continued to flourish, Eric Bradey (pictured in uniform during Second World War), who was Samuel’s grandson, decided to open a store in East Finchley
Margaret Thatcher’s iconic blue suits were looked after by the family when she was a London MP, and staff also restored Prince Charles’ wax coats.
The business has also cleaned Emmeline Pankhurst’s original Suffragette flag and looked after the garments of actress Brigitte Bardot, singer George Michael and racer Lewis Hamilton.
However the sole heir to the Bradley business Howard, 57, has now powered down the irons at the last dry cleaning store of the family empire, in Milton Keynes.
The sad demise came after Bradleys was purchased by national dry cleaning company V Clean Life last year – before it went into administration in May this year.
Howard, from Milton Keynes, said: ‘All good things come to an end but I think there was still life left in Bradleys. It was such a terribly sad day.
‘I know everything has to end at some point but I never thought it would. It’s all that I’ve ever known.
‘People travelled from all over the country to us.
‘My earliest memories of the place is people working through the night on clothes. It was a buzzing family business.
‘We were up against the biggest dry cleaners in the business but we offered a daily turnaround and we were hard to compete with.
‘It was absolutely fantastic to be a part of.’
Also among its famous clients was Winston Churchill and wife Lady Clementine, who both visited the store for the maintenance of their outfits. Pictured: Invoice sent to the Churchill’s by the business
The family-run operation also worked on Princess Anne’s wedding dress (pictured) at their store
Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher would visit the iconic dry cleaning store in order to maintain her blue suits
Last year the business was purchased by national dry cleaning company V Clean Life and went into administration. Pictured: Inside the laundry room
Sole heir to the dry cleaning business, Howard Bradley (pictured with wife Carol Young), has now decided to shut down the last dry cleaning store of the family empire, in Milton Keynes
Bradleys was first opened in 1832 in central London by Samuel Bradley Senior, initially as a garments restoration shop which would see people tale their dinner dresses, suits and best clothes for storage and restoration.
In 1860 the business opened London’s very first fur store in Chepstow Place, London – which by 1912 was the largest in Europe.
Samuel’s son, Bernard, ran the store from 1906 for the next 44 years.
During this period, Bradleys grew so popular the business commissioned six cars to offer their clients a bespoke service.
Those clients included Winston Churchill and wife Lady Clementine and an invoice from February 1937 shows they spent £3.90 in the shop – the equivalent of £264 today.
However the onset of the Second World War rocked not only the business, but the economy it relied on, leaving the business in a financially- strained state.
During this period many Bradleys workers were also killed in the war and one of its main buildings was hit by a bomb during the London Blitz.
Howard continued: ‘The business nearly folded after the war and people simply could not afford us anymore,’ he said.
‘There was no money in the country at all.
‘But the post-war era was very good for us.
‘My dad did something brave to reinvent the company and that saved it really.’
In the early 1950s, Bernard Bradley (pictured right), Howard’s grandfather, retired and passed over the reigns to his sons
The family business has been responsible for restoring RAF uniforms (right) and working on Ralf Schumacher’s racing suit (left)
The store has been responsible for looking after wedding dresses dating back to the Second World War (left) and has even restored a US Army parka from the Korean War (right)
After the war, the business became known for the then up-and-coming trend of dry-cleaning, Pictured: Restored vintage military informs inside the Milton Keynes shop
In the 1950s, after the war came to an end, Bradleys ditched the expensive fur coat and restoration works for the then up-and-coming trend of dry-cleaning, which soon became a popular activity among the middle and upper classes.
The owner at the time, Bernard Bradley, soon retired and left the dry cleaning business to his son Eric- Howard’s father.
Howard, who had started working at Bradleys aged seven as the tea boy on Saturdays, said: ‘Dry cleaning was still fairly new at the time and it was trendy to have your clothes dry cleaned.’
In 1977, the East Finchley store closed and Bradleys relocated again, this time to Milton Keynes, where it remained – albeit in two different city locations.
Its most famous customers to date have included Princess Anne, Prince Charles, George Michael, Lewis Hamiltion and former Tory prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
A Formula One racing suit worn by Michael Schumacher’s brother, Ralf, was also treated at the store and actor George Michael was a regular customer, Howard recalled.
Eric, who died in 2002, ran the business until the 1990s when Howard took over.
Sole heir Howard described closing down the Milton Keynes store as a ‘terribly sad day’. Pictured: Display inside the shop in Milton Keynes
Eric Bradley (pictured), who died in 2002, ran the business until the 1990s before his son Howard decided to take over the family operation
Howard took the store back to its restoration roots and had the business service clothes for museums and historic collections. Pictured: Howard Bradley’s mother and father, Natalie and Eri
Under Howard’s stewardship, Bradleys went back to its restoration roots and serviced clothes for museums and historic collections.
However by 2018, the Howard struggled to keep the business afloat without external investment and decided to join forces with V Clean Life in June last year.
Howard said: ‘I had been trying to re-finance because the dry cleaning was dying a death. Business was drying up.
‘The restorations was going really well but it wasn’t enough to keep it going alone.
‘V Clean gave me assurances that we could keep the family name.
‘They’d just have us under their company umbrella. It was the best thing for us at the time.’
As part of the move, Howard was appointed director of V Clean but with the company owing £1.4m billion to creditors, the business entered administration before finally shutting down on February 1.
Howard, who is married to Yvonne, 57, said: ‘It was a business I loved and I do miss it dearly.
‘I did what I thought was best for the staff and the company and I know my dad would appreciate that.
‘It was beyond my control to save it and I felt physically sick. Dry cleaning as a business is dying a death and business was drying up.
‘I felt gutted. We have such a long history, and that won’t change, but I didn’t want it to end so soon.
‘I am so proud of what the business was. It was my entire life and my pride and joy.
‘The last day was a sad and heartbreaking day. I just did what I felt was in the best interest of the business but I still feel so guilty for what happened.’