TV fashion therapist helps gents shop to break from past

A TV FASHION guru has dragged a Chorlton menswear shop into the 21st century. H.T Burt on Wilbraham Road, which has been open since 1895, has undergone a complete transformation from an ailing shop stuck in a ‘timewarp’ to one stocking the latest in men’s clothes – and it’s all thanks to fashion industry professional Mary Portas from the hit BBC series Mary, Queen of Shops.

The fashion expert and outspoken star of the BBC2 show descended on the Chorlton shop at the beginning of December to turn around its fortunes with a ‘top notch refit’.

As well as re-modelling the shop into a sleek, modern menswear boutique, hard-nosed presenter Mary also called in the latest ranges of clothes from top-end designers such as Aquascutum, John Smedley and Hugo Boss – putting the Chorlton shop at the cutting edge of fashion.

However, as fans of the series would expect, the complete overhaul – which is due to be aired on BBC2 in the spring – wasn’t all plain sailing.

Adrian Burt, manager of H.T Burt, said: “Some of the comments that Mary made about our shop when she first arrived were quite hard to take. She was very critical of how we were doing things, but now that we have come out of the other end of it all, we can see that her comments were appropriate.

“At the time you think that you can’t be doing things that wrong, however Mary had a vision for our shop and wherever she thought we were falling short, she would tell us.

“We are really pleased with the new look and we have had very positive feedback from everybody who has been in since we re-opened.

“We are looking forward to the show going live with a little bit of trepidation. Overall it was an amazing experience, we had great fun and got the opportunity to do some really useful things in London, such as viewings of other clothes shops and taking tips from them.

“We also got the opportunity to spend the afternoon with Dylan Thomas, the editor of the men’s fashion magazine GQ. He is really on the ball with all the latest designers and trends.”

H.T Burt first opened its doors in 1895 and was run by Harry Trevethan Burt as a hatters and hosiers. Adrian Burt is now the fourth generation of the family to run the shop, along with his wife Eileen.