“The customer was king – but the staff were family”
Bill Iveson, who ran Norman Simmons & Co with partner Norman Simmons(Image: Photo courtesy of Bill Iveson)
A lost Liverpool city centre store that was “top of the tree” is still remembered fondly nearly 30 years on from its closure. Located on the corner of North John Street and Cook Street, the Liverpool ECHO recently took a look back at gentleman’s outfitters and tailoring specialists Norman Simmons & Co in the city.
Opened in the late 1960s, Norman Simmons and Bill Iveson were the faces behind the business. Bill, now 88, had a background in tailoring at Hyman Jacobs in Birkenhead before coming to Norman Simmons, a business he continued after Norman retired.
Leaving school with no qualifications, Bill became a well-known businessman in the city and continues to champion Liverpool and its independent businesses. Norman Simmons & Co closed back in 1997, but after seeing our recent story in the Liverpool ECHO, he contacted us and has now shared his memories of the famous store.
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Bill, from Birkenhead, told the ECHO: “I saw an advertisement in the Liverpool ECHO for Norman Simmons – it must have been around 1968. I knew Norman was a tailor and he was meeting up with quite a few people.
“But I think the fact that his first wife was a pharmacist, my first wife was a pharmacist, I think that he created a fraternity. I couldn’t afford to put as much money in as Norman could, so we started off as two-thirds, one-third.
Norman Simmons and Co, mens clothing shop on the corner of Cook Street and North John Street, 1993(Image: Mirrorpix)
“Eventually, I became an equal partner. I remember our first customer came from the Royal Insurance office, which was in North John Street. It was very hard because Watson Pickard had been there for years and there were 20 other tailors in North John Street.
“But that’s where you go, where the other tailors are, and you’ve got to gradually build it up. After a few years, when we started to get successful, we opened up a branch in Ormskirk.
“We also had a shop in Wrexham and when when they built the Wrexham bypass to Chester, business dropped, so we went into Chester. Then we opened up in Manchester.
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“I remember the thrill of breaking through after the first year. We actually sold a million pounds and that was such a thrill.” Building up a strong customer base, Bill said he remembers kitting out they kitted out Tranmere Rovers Football team when they played at Wembley, when Johnny King was their manager and also a customer.
The business partners were also frequently invited to lunch with the directors of Barclays Bank at their Head Office in Martin’s Bank Building – on one occasion being asked to design and produce the first Barclays’ blue uniforms for a number of staff members. When it came to their customers, Bill said the team wanted to offer them “the best”.
He said: “We were the biggest Burberry account outside of London. We were the top of the tree.
Inside Norman Simmons and Co on November 16, 1993(Image: Mirrorpix)
“We showed the best. Garbardine raincoats, they were the standard. Thomas Burberry, he designed it and that was the best waterproof garment at the time. Reid & Taylor was the most expensive tweed in the world.
“In those days, because there was no central heating, it was weight, heavy clothes. Of course, we did the shirts and the ties and the scarves and shoes.
But it was mainly the suits, the jackets and the trousers that we dealt in. Yeah. They were the essence of the business.”
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The Liverpool ECHO recently shared incredible photos, courtesy of our archive, Mirrorpix, that capture life at Norman Simmons back in 1993. But Bill has also shared images from his personal archive capturing life inside the famous shop.
He said: “There was an occasion when I went to a presentation in the city and there were six people on the stage and five of them were wearing suits.
“That was a big feeling. We also had prestigious people like Ken Dodd as a customer. I remember Ken entertained the customers in the staff for three nights on the trot in store and there was a prize every night.”
Bill Iveson, who ran the business with partner Norman Simmons(Image: Photo courtesy of Bill Iveson)
In the early 1990s, Norman retired and Bill continued the business. But in 1997, the Liverpool Daily Post reported how one of “Liverpool’s best-known” gentleman outfitters was to become a pub.
The store had been sold to Whitbread’s for £1m and was to become “one of the biggest bars in the expanding Mathew Street area”. At the time, it said their total stock of quality menswear was reduced by half or 75% off all suits, jackets, shirts, trousers, ties, blazers and more.
Bill said: “When we were approached by Whitbread’s to buy the premises, I spoke to the accountant, because Norman was retired then. They were of the opinion that you sell when somebody wants to buy, not when you want to sell them.
Inside Norman Simmons on North John Street(Image: Photo courtesy of Bill Iveson)
“What I loved the most about the business was the ability to make decisions and getting on and talking to people, making friends.” Later opening as a pub, many will remember stepping foot in the former Norman Simmons store when it became the Hog’s Head.
Years later, it became the William Gladstone pub in 2010. But more recently, the pub has transformed once more. In August last year, the Liverpool ECHO reported how the William Gladstone pub was to reopen as cocktail bar and nightlife spot Be At One
It’s now been over 30 years since we said goodbye to Norman Simmons in the city centre. But generations will still remember working or shopping there in its time.
Kenn Dodd was a regular customer(Image: Photo courtesy of Bill Iveson)
Over the years, Bill became the Northwest chairman of the Menswear Association of Great Britain and the British Shops and Stores Association. He was also chairman of the Liverpool Stores Committee, founder of the Cavern Quarter Initiative and along with Bill Heckle and Dave Jones created the Mathew Street Festival.
Still continuing to champion the city and local businesses, Bill said he is also proud of the success his former staff members went on to have. Bill said: “Our staff, we do annual get togethers and the last time we met was in my old shop, which is now Be At One.
“I trained the staff as part of the family. I taught the staff that he’s not a customer, he’s a friend.
“We had a very, very good system were if you didn’t know the name of the fellow who just walked in, one of the others would go and get his business card and hand it to you. I learned that from my time in Hynam Jacobs.
“It meant that we had a continuity factor and the staff were working together. The customer was king -but the staff were family.
“That’s the way I looked at it. It was camaraderie and friendship.”