Comments on: All Change At Maggs Bros Ltd

By: janice Bartholomeusz

janice Bartholomeusz — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 21:29:35 +0000

So is it haunted

By: Red

Red — Tue, 10 May 2022 08:31:16 +0000

I wonder what has gone in there now? Surely somebody has bought the old place. But it’s probably like commenter “Albert” said. It’s probably something STUPID … a bank? A McDonald’s? A police station?

By: john kelley

john kelley — Sun, 15 Aug 2021 18:22:16 +0000

Maggs Bros at No. 50 Berkeley Square is no more, a piece of English history sadly gone…
My late grandfather would take me on my school holidays, to explore all those iconic and treasured publications.
Now years later I can still sense the shops atmosphere. What’s happened in the five years since the closure has occurred ?
But he always told me one account, it revolved round a bird, that would sing out during the night, in of course Berkeley Square. Even being songs written about it…
‘A Nightingale sang in Berkeley Square’
Who knows – maybe that’s restored my feelings of content.
john kelley

By: Tom Moloney

Tom Moloney — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 00:33:58 +0000

I agree with Judith Huxton. The sight of a cardboard box full of spare signed James Joyce copies is one of the strangest and not unmoving things I have ever seen.

Napoleon’s penis forsooth.

By: Paul Miller

Paul Miller — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 11:46:02 +0000

As an 8 year old boy I was taken to see the Tutankhamun exhibition in London by Albert Maggs a neighbour, friend and mentor in life..that was 1972. During the day I was given the privilege of visiting the old premises of Maggs Brothers as Bertie (as he was known to his friends) hadn’t seen his relatives for while and also had to discuss the safekeeping of some particularly valuable documents at his home in Dorset. As a young child I don’t think you always appreciate the gravitas of visiting such an establishment but looking at the above photographs did bring back the memories of that wonderful day out..long live Maggs Brothers.

By: Albert

Albert — Tue, 24 Oct 2017 19:01:28 +0000

A ‘bed and breakfast ” featuring the infamous “haunted room!” That would be neat. But I’m afraid that “life” just isn’t usually that “cool.” Reality usually BITES.

By: Albert

Albert — Tue, 24 Oct 2017 18:53:54 +0000

That’s what I was thinking. The house at #50 Berkeley Square needs to go to somebody that will appreciate the HISTORY of the house and all of it’s legends. The house should NEVER be “flipped!” ( recklessly remodeled just to turn a cheap profit ). That would be downright “tragic!” It’s the only house in the whole of London that has been preserved, like a window back through time. Any idiot that remodels that neat old house is an idiot INDEED! Maggs Brothers Bookstore has been like a “saving grace” for that old house. Like all the other houses in that fashionable wealthy neighborhood, the place would surely have been remodeled at least SEVEN TIMES by now. Now, however, that “saving grace” has flown ( or is about to have flown ) the coup!!! Worst of all is the fact that nobody even seems to know that this has HAPPENED!!! Otherwise, people from all over the world would be looking for ways to buy or “pitch in” and SAVE that neat old house.
Alas, it looks like the old house at number 50 Berkeley Square will probably end up being quickly and discreetly sold to wealthy private parties without anybody even noticing. All done exclusively and “under the table.” The fate of the old house will be in the hands of whoever buys it. Hopefully, it WILL become a really cool bed and breakfast that will let “only the bravest people” sleep in the old “haunted room.” That would be one VERY popular attraction! Would people encounter anything supernatural? Maybe. But at very least, it’s a bloody cool idea! But, more realistically, the house will probably become a damn jewelry store, some law-firm, or worse yet, a BANK. … god forbid.

By: Red

Red — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 09:46:14 +0000

I only hope that the old house does not get sold to “modernites.” They will probably end up remodeling ( and RUINING! )the very last original un-remodeled house in all of London. The place will probably end up in the hands of some ( “gasp!” ) trendy nightclub owners. It would be so COOL if the house was purchased by someone who wants to preserve the old place EXACTLY as it is and then make something like a “bed and breakfast” out of it. They might even be open to the idea of paranormal investigators. But, unfortunately, I’m afraid that’s highly unlikely.

By: Rosemary Stevens

Rosemary Stevens — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 10:04:36 +0000

I was fortunate enough to be shown round the whole building and garden before you left, and was enchanted and captivated by everything. I wish you well in Curzon Street and must come back to see whether you still have the chest of drawers (which used to be on the topmost floor in Berkeley Square) containing what I thought of as “Cherished Fragments”. These were mainly single, ancient, vellum leaves, and vestiges of leaves – including cutout capital letters and mutilated medieval texts. I shall be back for more searching and wonderment – even hopefuly purchase!

By: Carolyn Badcock - nee Hooper

Carolyn Badcock - nee Hooper — Sun, 29 Nov 2015 23:56:43 +0000

Superb post today, gentle author!! I started to salivate as I studied those shelves stacked with amazing history. Wonderful photos……………… aaahhhh…..