Profile: Hatton Garden

The jewelry industry has had a presence in London’s Hatton Garden district since medieval times. Home to the London Diamond Bourse, the area sits between the city’s financial hub and the West End shopping and entertainment district. Its image in recent years has been of a slightly run-down neighborhood that thrives on couples shopping for custom-made, non-branded engagement rings cheaper than those in the West End.

Stuck in the web

Now, however, surging rents and competition from online retail are piling pressure on jewelry workshops to leave.

“Landlords get higher returns from offices than from workshops,” observes Stephen Berman, owner of Hatton Garden jeweler Arlington & Co.

There is also pressure to meet rising demand for housing. “Many more buildings have been converted to incorporate residential, which again limits the workshop space available for the working jewelers,” says Gary Williams, director of precious-metals processor Presman Mastermelt and chairman of the Hatton Garden Business Improvement District (BID).

Add that issue to the rental hikes, he continues, and local jewelers “are feeling very much under threat.”

Hatton Garden jewelers have also struggled to adapt to the competition from internet sellers such as 77 Diamonds. While there is a Hatton-garden.net, it’s a directory of the jewelry businesses in the district, rather than a transactional website.

Those businesses need to adjust to the changing retail landscape, argues Jason Holt, chief executive of Hatton Garden gallery Holts Gems.

“Change is happening at a faster pace than in any other generation,” he says. “Many businesses based in Hatton Garden need to embrace technology and the changes before us — not an easy task for those businesses which have been established for a generation or two and thus far haven’t had to innovate.”

Ticket to success?

Getting local jewelers up to speed in a fast-paced world is what the BID aims to do as it works to raise Hatton Garden’s profile.

“The upside is that although things are changing, the local businesses voted for the Hatton Garden BID, which is supporting the Hatton Garden businesses with a program of improvements and promotions aimed at capitalizing on the massive extra footfall [that] Crossrail and the Museum of London — which is being relocated at nearby Smithfield — will bring,” Williams says, referring to the multi-billion-dollar Crossrail train terminal due to open in the nearby Farringdon district later this year.

Because of its proximity to Hatton Garden, the terminal is expected to bring an influx of commuters and visitors to the area. However, the arrival of Crossrail will also raise commercial rents, jewelers predict, noting that office-space demand from companies in the legal, accounting, media and tech sectors has already pushed up rents sharply.

“The main challenge is the reduction of affordable workshop space, especially for small companies and artisans,” says Berman.

Doing better

The area is already changing. Leather Lane nearby has a growing reputation as a food hub. Amazon has moved into the neighborhood. Despite the challenges, jewelers are optimistic that Hatton Garden will ultimately retain its status as London’s jewelry quarter, as businesses will have to adapt to survive.

“Our offerings need to be better, our service more personal and our marketing/social media profile stronger if we expect to compete and attract consumer [spending],” Williams says.

Holt sees Hatton Garden as a gauge for the declining health of brick-and-mortar retail. “I think Hatton Garden is a bellwether for the rest of the country, and to that extent retail as a whole,” he says. “I think retail is going through a tough time. Other than the obvious issue of sky-high rents, the customer wants an experience.”

A brief history

Hatton Garden is named after a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, Christopher Hatton, who lived in the area after the monarch gave him a property. He later became lord chancellor. 

In the 19th century, Johnson Matthey developed its gold and platinum business in the neighborhood, and the diamond trade expanded dramatically there following the Kimberley diamond rush. 

Since the 1870s, the Hatton Garden area has established an international reputation as London’s jewelry quarter and has been home to diamond suppliers, workshops and retailers. 

De Beers moved into nearby Charterhouse Street in the early 1930s. 

Hatton Garden hit the headlines in April 2015 when burglars broke into an underground safe deposit facility and stole millions of dollars’ worth of valuables. Seven perpetrators were convicted in March 2016. 

With nearly 300 local businesses and over 55 shops, the area is the largest jewelry retail cluster in the UK. The London Diamond Bourse is based there as well.

Image: Shutterstock

Article from the Rapaport Magazine - April 2018. To subscribe click here.