Milliner returns to the high street after five-year break

A MILLINER is returning to the high street with a new shop in Caversham.

Liz Felix has opened Liz Felix Hats in Church Street and had her first day trading on Saturday.

She has moved from a workshop and showroom in Gallowstree Common.

Ms Felix, who had run a shop in Henley for seven years until 2020, had initially intended to return to the town.

But when she was unable to find a site that was the right size and within her budget, she turned to Caversham.

Ms Felix said: “I was driving past this shop in Caversham every day and it had become vacant. It’s such an amazing location and I got very excited about it – I thought it would make the most amazing hat shop.”

She said her new premises was particularly suitable for a milliner, which she described as a “destination” shop.

“You go there when you want a hat,” she said. “It’s not generally something you buy when you’re walking past, so people tend to arrange to come here to see me.”

Ms Felix hopes the visibility will continue to generate custom now the height of hat season — marked by Royal Ascot, summer weddings and the royal regatta — is over.

She said: “The location is right by Caversham Bridge, so anyone driving through Caversham has to drive past my window. It’s an amazing and very visible space. I’m really pleased to be going back on the high street — I have missed it.”

Ms Felix said the decision to have a physical shop is a difficult one for any retailer, with high rental prices and regular opening hours, but she was pleased she made the decision.

Customers arrived for the opening having travelled from Basingstoke, Basildon and Twyford. The first sale of the day, a ladies’ summer hat, was greeted by cheers and a round of applause from shoppers.

Ms Felix also said she had received a warm welcome from neighbours with visits from Lydia Gledhill, the director of Caversham Picture Framer, and staff from Indigo Rye hair salon and the Collective Caversham café.

She said: “It was so lovely to have that much support from my clients, friends and the local shopkeepers. It was just lovely to feel that welcomed — it was heartwarming.

“I had only a couple of moments where the shop was empty, there was someone in there the whole time. Sometimes I would think, ‘Oh, I’ll just go and make a coffee’, and then someone else would arrive!”

She stocks a wide range of hats and makes them to order with private consultations from Monday to Thursday, adding: “It’s important that I can give people that time and private space.” She also plans to run millinery taster workshops and talks.

Ms Felix, who grew up in Wargrave, closed her Henley shop during the coronavirus pandemic and she retrained as a celebrant before taking on the hat workshop as she missed it.

She has been a milliner for more than 30 years and has supplied hats to well-known clients including former Sonning MP and Prime Minister Theresa May and had made her a hat for the King’s coronation.