17 Mar 2025
Tailor to princes and Prime Ministers, Geoffrey Golding has been an inexorable part of the fabric of St Albans for over 60 years, but his fascinating rags-to-riches story has never been told in full. Now in his 80th year, he has worked on a biography of his life with writer Steve Eggleston subtitled ‘The Poor, Hard-Up Tailor’.
Although a publication date has yet to be confirmed, the St Albans Times has been granted exclusive access to this book to offer a sneak preview of what to expect.
Where now hangs a garish scarlet sign for yet another Hatfield Road chicken shop was once a Royal Warrant Coat of Arms proudly proclaiming that the business was bespoke tailor by appointment to HM The Queen.
GD Golding Tailors was a familiar feature on the street for the best part of 60 years, until what turned out to be the short-lived retirement of founder Geoffrey Golding in 2021.
At the time, Chris Hayward, Sheriff of the City of London, proclaimed: “One of the last of our greatest tailors ever exits our stage! Our wardrobes will be a poorer place but maybe our wallets a little fuller. Thank you Geoffrey, you are irreplaceable.”
But the man who purchased the business failed to make a success of it, and went into liquidation in 2023, prompting Geoffrey to once again pick up his figurative needle and thread and re-enter the work of bespoke tailoring.
Having purchased the phone number of his old company, Golding is now back working for many of his former clients, once again bringing them the quality service which made his reputation.
But who is Geoffrey David Golding, and how did he come to dress thousands of officers of all ranks, members of the Royal Family and even the odd celebrity?
Born in 1944, the grandson of East End Jewish Russian immigrants, Geoffrey’s family moved to St Albans shortly after the end of the Second World War, and his father Ruben established a small tailoring business at 74 Albert Street, sitting in the window sewing.
His biography says: “The omnipresent exposure to tailoring infused him with awareness, an intuitive sense, knack and finesse for collars, cuffs, hems and line. You become imbued with skills that rise about formal language and pedantic learning.”
His first exposure to fame was unexpected. Joining the Scouts when he was 10, he stood at the top of a human pyramid created for a Jamboree display, and then went on to be crowned the youngest first-class Scout in the UK.
Although his family was very poor, Geoffrey began saving what money he could scrimp together when he was just eight, with around £2,500 to his name by the time he was ready to go into business.
Severely dyslexic, he had left school with nothing more than an O-level in woodwork, with his father giving him one piece of advice: “Whatever you do, do not become a tailor – because there’s no money in it!”
But the young Geoffrey ignored him and enrolled as an apprentice at Rodex of London, where he discovered he had an almost preternatural talent for tailoring.
G&D Golding – he added the ampersand to give the impression there was somebody else in the business – opened for business on September 22 1963. Geoffrey was just 19, and had persuaded a bank manager to lend him £250 to get things started.
He took out adverts for his alterations and repairs in newspapers in a surrounding area of about 30 miles, and then persuaded customers to purchase his bespoke suits and tuxedos.
Unlike many of his competitors, he kept his doors open until the last customer left, fulfilling the high demand for out-of-hours services, such as converting out-of-fashion double breasted dinner suits into the new fad for single breasts.
The business thrived until the 1970s, when the demand for tailored suits began to wane, so Geoffrey decided to expand into mess uniforms and service dress, and aimed high.
“In terms of prestige you couldn’t aim higher than the Household Cavalry… and the idea of making the dashing ceremonial uniforms of the Queen’s official bodyguard appealed to him greatly,” says his biography.
He made it his business to establish a connection the regiment’s adjutant, and as coincidence would have it phoned up immediately after they had been let down by another tailor who had failed to supply uniforms on time.
Geoffrey headed to the headquarters of the regiment at Horse Guards in Westminster, where he found the adjutant was someone he had helped many years ago by fitting his uniform within a week when nobody else was available.
Winning the custom of the Household Cavalry was to be the making of his career. Having succeeded in winning his first official regimental appointment, he was able to slowly steer the military away from the traditional tailors in Savile Row, fighting for business one regiment at a time.
There have been challenges over the years, but attempts at undercutting Golding’s service fail to take into account the experience, reputation and knowledge which the company has built up over the decades.
Even reductions in the country’s defence budget played to his advantage, as regiments were merged, pooling resources while maintaining their traditions, which of course meant a change of uniforms.
When the Royal Irish Rangers and the Ulster Defence Regiment were merged a new Colonel in Chief was appointed who was a member of the Royal Family, leading to Geoffrey’s first, but by no means his last, commission for the Royals.
Geoffrey’s workshop was awarded the Queen’s Royal Warrant for services to the Royal Household in 2001.
When the company celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2013, the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, was a guest of honour at a private gathering at Sopwell House Hotel.
The anniversary celebration was attended by 250 guests including Herts Lord Lieutenant Lady Verulam, High Sheriff Arabella Stuart-Smit and Chief Constable Andy Bliss, and doubled as a fundraiser for Dyslexia Action.
Away from the military, Geoffrey has worked on assorted celebrity commissions, including a “futuristic Regency” outfit worn when Justin Irn married Steps star Faye Tozer, the suit worn by reality TV personality Lance Gerrard-Wright at his wedding to Ulrika Jonsson, late gameshow host Nicholas Parsons and Prime Minister David Cameron.
In 2019 he became the only tailor to have received The Royal Victorian Order, an honour usually only given to high-ranking officers, diplomats, members of the Royal Family, and senior Palace servants.
His biography ends with a lovely comment on Golding’s long history: “One of the things that Geoffrey has most enjoyed in his illustrious career has been the clients he has met along the way.”
But what of Geoffrey himself? What does he make of it all?
“It’s been fascinating looking back on the highs and lows of my career, and the achievements along the way. I’m looking forward to seeing my story in print in the not too distant future!”
