THE THREE MUSKETEERS

The shop may be new but the tailors, if not old, are far from freshman. John Kent started at Hawes & Curtis in the 1960s, joined a little later by Stephen Lachter, and then later by Terry Haste. Like the musketeers, these three have been through a variety of experiences, but have finally come together in their present shop under the title of Kent, Haste and Lachter, to their collective delight – one for all and all for one.

“It is all ours,” Stephen Lachter emphasises. “There are no backers in Singapore or Hong Kong or anywhere else. It's just the three of us.”

Above, from left, John Kent, Terry Haste and Stephen Lachter see the joke.

Just a few years back, this triumvirate would not have seemed possible. The ebullient John Kent, a legendary tailor, was taken ill and it seemed would retire. But he bounced back after two and a half years, as irrepressible as ever, and initially joined Stephen Lachter in shared premises at Nortons.

The two had enjoyed a long-time partnership since their Hawes & Curtis days, Kent the tailor, Lachter a bespoke shirtmaker. Meantime, the third one of the trio, Terry Haste had progressed through Tommy Nutter’s and Huntsman. With John’s return and Terry having left Huntsman, the three decided to get together.

“We were fortunate to take over the premises in Old Burlington Street vacated by Denman & Goddard,” Lachter explains, “but on a short lease, as it was to be developed. But it gave us time and this place then became available.”

This place is the former shop of Fallan & Harvey in Sackville Street, the tailoring firm now ensconced within Davies & Son. It had been briefly turned into a beauty salon, and KHL benefited from improvements to the premises that firm had made. 

“We have the basement and this good-sized shop,”  Stephen explains. “It gives us room for our tailoring, with two young girls as apprentices – there are a lot of kids  who want to get into our industry now but as you know, most of us don’t have room for many these days.”

John Kent has held a Royal Warrant as tailor to the Duke of Edinburgh for many years. When he was away, this lapsed but on his return to tailoring, he re-applied and the warrant was granted in 2010.

“John’s customers were very pleased at his return – he’s very popular.”

At that moment a customer entered, to be greeted by John with “Look who’s here, walk this way – well, not this way because I’ve got this bad leg…”

“The jokes don’t get any better,” says Lachter, with a smile.

He knows about jokes. He was a stand-up comedian early in his career, on stage every night. But when he finally decided he needed to get a proper job, he started as a trainee at Turnbull & Asser – “and I discovered this wonderful world of West End characters”.

The home trade is important but the US has grown considerably. “We go there four times a year and we might expand our activities there. We are not fearful of development. We’re on a sound footing and have a 15 year lease on this shop.

“We’ve been dragged into the 21st century,” he says. “We’ve got a website that has brought exposure, good publicity, though  really, customers come to us largely through word-of-mouth.

“There are a couple of other developments we’re hoping to launch soon. We’re three good friends, business is pretty good – we’re not complaining. Yes, we’re happy,” he says with a grin.