Dhanji Patel, Men’s Outfitter

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‘I love my shop,’ declared Dhanji Patel with a beatific smile, standing behind his counter at Omram Menswear in Sicilian Avenue, before confessing ‘sometimes I even come in on Sunday for a couple of hours just to tidy up.’

When I remind you that in Hinduism ‘Om’ is all encompassing, the essence of ultimate reality which unifies everything in the universe, you will appreciate this is a very special shop. Indeed, for the last forty-one years, Dhanji has been coming every day to maintain it in a state of perfection.

Not so long ago, Sicilian Avenue was a favoured destination in which Omram Menswear nestled between the celebrated Onion Cafe and Skoob Books, where I have whiled away more hours than I care to admit. Yet now it is mostly vacant, pending refurbishment by the corporate owners prior to the introduction of upmarket chains, and Dhanji has been given only a few months notice before he must depart.

When I arrived Dhanji was sheltering under an awning, contemplating the rain falling upon the emptiness in Sicilian Avenue. The West End is a quiet place these days and most of the offices are closed.

Despite the melancholy of the circumstance, I was overjoyed to meet Dhanji and encounter his miniature temple to menswear, filled with high quality garments all manufactured by British companies at breathtakingly cheap prices. In a more just world, Dhanji’s tiny shop would be cherished for the charm, the individuality and the civility that it brings to this otherwise soulless corner of Holborn, where traffic clatters past to get to somewhere else.

Once upon a time, Dhanji worked at a menswear shop in Bayswater where – he confided to me – he was too shy to serve the customers and hid in the basement. But this admission only makes his story all the more remarkable, as a testament of success won through hard work, honesty and perseverance.

“In my whole community, I am the only one working in clothing. I am a qualified book-keeper and I can do it really nicely. I live in Harlesden and I come each day to work by bus, it is a forty-five minute ride to Euston and then I walk here to Holborn.

In 1979, I worked for Unique Boutique menswear in Queensway. I was their book-keeper but there was a shortage of staff so they told me to help out in the shop. I was too scared to serve customers, I used to go downstairs when they arrived. I was very shy. I thought I was going to get the sack, but instead I got promotion to chief accountant.

My luck turned and my boss, Mr Mirchandani, was very nice, he said, ‘Please try to serve the customers.’ So when he went away, I used to go on the shop floor and try to sell to customers and I became the top salesman. Once I got used to it, I liked serving customers. Whenever I had any free time in accounts, I went into the shop, tidying up the shirts and jeans. The customers loved me because I was so small. When they came back, they asked for me to serve them! My boss told me I was one of his best salesmen and I was very happy. Even now, my ex-boss comes to see me because he really admires me.

Unique Boutique had quite a few shops until they went into liquidation. My boss told me to go into partnership with the man who ran this shop in Sicilian Avenue, he was my boss’ driver and his name was Manji. We had two shops, here and in Knightsbridge Underground Station but this shop was not doing very well. So then we got another shop, in Leicester Sq Underground Station. Both those shops in stations did well.

After three years, Manji told me he wanted to break the partnership. I agreed, saying ‘Give me one of the good shops and you can have the other two.’ He went to a solicitor but I did not have money to do that, so I ended up with this shop. It was difficult, until one day a gentleman from Double Two Shirts came in and advised me to sell better quality clothes. I grew in confidence with that and attracted more customers too. One day, the chairman of Ben Sherman was having lunch at Spaghetti House in Sicilian Avenue, he came in and told me to open an account with them. From there, trade started picking up. I was doing more business and getting better customers.

It was busy and there were really nice shops in Sicilian Avenue when I came here, a bookshop, a travel agency, a stamp and coin dealer and a regimental tie shop. Now I am longest tenant in the avenue. I love this shop and I have been here forty-one years. I have always paid my rent on time. I had a tough time when I started but I have had good times too. I have the loveliest customers. I have emailed them and they are all upset that I have to go. I do not know much about the internet and all that, so I am looking for somebody who might help me set up an online shop.

I have too much stock because last December before the second lockdown I bought a lot of winter stock, believing that there would not be another lockdown, so I got stuck with a lot of Harris tweed jackets and masonic clothing. Now the landlords are telling me that they want this shop back and it is very difficult for me to get rid of my stock. I cannot fit it all into my home.

The landlords are saying I have to go in August but I am begging them for a couple more months to sell my stock, otherwise what will I do? I am hoping they will be nice and give me time to clear the stock when everyone comes back. There are so many empty shops in the avenue, one has been empty for fifteen years. Hogarth Properties are billionaires so they are not bothered about it, but I do not want to vacate my shop and see it empty for a couple of years while my stock is dead. What can I do? I would love to stay here. I am crying inside.

I have a really nice customer base. I have so many overseas customers – from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Nigeria and Uganda – who are coming to see me in the autumn. I am sending them clothes by post. They are supporting me and trying to help me out, which is really very kind of them.

I love this job and I love talking with my customers. As soon as anyone walks in the door, I can guess their size. They like it and they tell their friends. I want them to feel at home. If the customer is happy, he is going to come back.

Honesty is very important in business. There are certain things which are very cheap in this shop and I will tell the customer ‘This is what it is.’ A regular customer bought some trousers and there was a cheap shirt that he liked, but I told him ‘I had one customer complain that one of those shirts shrank.’ When he came to collect his trousers after alteration yesterday, he said ‘Whether it shrinks or not, I will buy the shirt.’

I do all the alterations myself by hand without a machine. If somebody wants a pair of trousers and they need to be altered, I will do it in half an hour.

My longest standing customer is Prince Apugo of Nigeria, he has visited me three to four times every year since 1982. We have become so friendly and, whenever he comes to London, he has to come to my shop.

A judge from Australia is a good customer of mine. He first came here on a Saturday, at five o’clock fifteen years ago, to buy one shirt from me yet I convinced him to buy another and a suit. After six months, he came back for another six shirts and he told me, ‘I’ve bought so many suits at other places but yours was the best!’ He cannot come to London because of the pandemic, so we have been swapping emails and he ordered £800 worth of things from me recently.

There was a black woman who used to pass my window every day on her way to study at the London School of Economics. One evening at five o’clock I was standing outside and she asked ‘Can I enter the shop?’ She explained she wanted to buy something for her fiancé. When she spoke, I asked her if she was from East Africa and she said ‘Yes.’ So I asked, ‘Which part?’ and she said ‘Uganda.’

I told her I had one of the nicest customers from Uganda. A lovely gentleman who came every year until he passed away. She asked me his name and, when I told her, she started crying. I did not know what was wrong. She said, ‘That was my dad.’ I showed her the handwriting of her father in my order book. She was so surprised. She never knew that her father came to my shop, and now she was in the same shop.”

‘As soon as anyone walks in the door, I can guess their size’

‘If somebody wants a pair of trousers altered, I will do it in half an hour’

Omram Menswear, 5 Sicilian Avenue, Off Southampton Row, London, WC1A 2QH

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