£56m Savile Row police station to be bulldozed and turned into seven-storey office block

By Jacob Phillips, Local Democracy Reporter

A former police station in the West End could be bulldozed and replaced with a new restaurant and offices.

The West End Central Police Station, in Savile Row, was bought for £56m by European property developers CPI in March 2021.

It will be replaced with a new seven-storey development, that will also include affordable workspaces for apprentice tailors and start-up businesses, if plans go ahead.

The proposals have been praised by Su Thomas, manager of the Savile Row Bespoke Association, as an opportunity to transform the northern end of the famous street and “bring it into step with the thriving southern part”.

She said: “We are also delighted that following extensive consultation, and in response to the feedback we gave, the developer has made changes to the scheme which include enhancing the ground floor appearance and introducing much-needed affordable workspace for apprentice training and start-up opportunities.

“The proposals brought forward will create a mixed-used building consisting of world-class office space and a new restaurant, all of these changes will bring life, commerce, and footfall to the northern part of this iconic street.”

The news comes after Savile Row tailors previously spoke out about the strip losing its character.

Bespoke tailors at Welsh and Jefferies, and Chittleborough, were worried about the future of Savile Row and said suit shops are being swapped for cafes and restaurants.

The tailors said the plans could force several craftsmen on the street to move off Savile Row to find new spaces to work.

James Cottrell was forced to shut his shop Welsh and Jefferies after 40 years of business due to the pandemic and a spike in rents.

The 71-year-old tailor previously said: “It’s a bitter pill to swallow when you are closing everything up for the last time. The shop is still sitting empty now.

“They don’t want similar independent [tailors]. Customers won’t come to Savile Row when it’s a building site. This is just the start. It’s going to have a domino effect. There will be others who are next in line. The writing is on the wall for Savile Row.”

Joseph Morgan, 73, has been working at Chittleborough and Morgan for most of his life. The famous shop made Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger’s wedding suit but now it is struggling to survive as the tailors are being priced out by “bigger brands that have no relationship to Savile Row”.

He previously said: “Savile Row is for bespoke tailoring. We are finding it very difficult at the moment. They just want to upgrade the area and make it like any other central London street.”

The plans for the police station site have been submitted to Westminster City council. The West End Central Police Station was first built in 1938 but tailors did not want it to be named after Savile Row so there were no associations with their brands.

After the Second World War, the police station was one of the busiest in London and it mainly dealt with prostitution, pornography and unlicensed gambling. It also became associated with police corruption until the 1970s and 1980s and was eventually taken out of action in 2017.

Pictured top: The old West End Central Police Station (Picture: Google Street View)