What a shame that the age of the gentleman outfitter is over in Bognor Regis

Well this was the price that was advertised by Joscelyn Hansford in his shop in London Road in 1908.

This well-known business illustrated the rise and decline of this kind of shop over the years.

Joscelyn was a self-made man from Powerstock in Dorset, where he was born on February 10, 1881.

He served a five-year apprenticeship in Bridport before moving to Chichester where he acquired his first job in an outfitters shop. His wage was one guinea a week.

He left Chichester and moved to Bognor to work as manager of a shop.

One day in 1908, at the age of 27, he was walking home to have his lunch and called into a shop owned by Harry Nicholson, to buy cigarettes.

Harry Nicholson asked him if he wanted to buy a cash till, as the trader was closing down the next day.

Joscelyn by this time was a branch manager at the outfitters in Bognor and, while he knew a previous tenant of the shop had also been in the outfitting business, which had failed, he decided to take over the premises for which he had to pay a guinea per week, and started to sell his suits.

This was a relatively-small shop at No 36 London Road with a frontage of only 12 feet. Within two years, he was able to move across London Road to take over a shop at No 39 London Road, in a new row that had been constructed.

When he was advised that he was moving too fast, it only spurred him on to greater efforts.

He continued to prosper and, in 1914, opened a second shop in Littlehampton.

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