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Camden News - by CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS
Published: 29 May 2008

Cyril with staff members Elisha Hughes and Stacey Williams outside his shop

All sew easy as shop boss clocks up seven decades

WHEN Cyril Chapman started work at the family business, Chapman Sewing Machines, two years before World War II broke out, he could have been forgiven for not expecting to be there 71 years later.
Even now, Mr Chapman has no plans to retire. “Not at all – I’m only 82,” he joked.
Last week he celebrated his seven decades at the shop in Parkway, Camden Town, in style, donning a Victorian costume to reflect the hardworking ethos that has seen the business flourish over the years.
“We’re the oldest sewing machine service in the country and we’re a bit ‘olde worlde’ so we thought we’d dress up in Victorian costume,” he said.
Mr Chapman’s list of customers ranges from Holloway prison to Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals, via the Versace and Chanel fashion houses.
But by far his most famous customer is the Queen – or rather, her Lady of the Linens.
Recounting the time the Queen’s seamstress popped in, he said: “She asked if we deliver and I said: ‘No, but where’s it going?’ When she said ‘Buckingham Palace’ I said: ‘In that case, yes’. But unfortunately I only got to the front door and the guards took it from there.”

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