Fairfax & Favor: Luxury countrywear brand announces opening of second Yorkshire store in Doncaster

The clothing and footwear specialist has only six of its own UK stores, all in traditional market towns, including Helmsley in North Yorkshire. Founded in 2013 by two childhood friends, it is based in Norfolk.

This summer the brand will take over the Old Town Hall, a landmark building in Bawtry, the Georgian coaching town near Doncaster.

Built in 1890, the building was sold last year to Jason Cooper, the owner of Bawtry Hall, one of the area’s leading wedding venues, and The Crown Hotel, a former coaching inn nearby.

The Old Town Hall was previously a fine art gallery and has also been a flower shop and a working men’s club over the years. It fronts onto the Market Place.

Bawtry Retail Association chair Ross Jarvie first approached Fairfax & Favor’s founder Felix Favor Parker in 2022, believing that the building would be a ‘good fit’ for the brand, and a lease was agreed.

Visit Bawtry announced the brand’s arrival this week, prompting The Shoe Room, an independent Doncaster city centre footwear boutique which is an official stockist of Fairfax & Favor, to tell customers on social media: “For the past six years, we have worked tirelessly to grow our business in Doncaster, working with amazing brands including the phenomenon that is Fairfax & Favor.

"We have in that time done such a great job, that Fairfax & Favor are going to open their own store in Bawtry. Our customers travel to us in Doncaster from far and wide, including Bawtry, north Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, South, North, East and West Yorkshire and Derbyshire.

"Despite the massive investment we made with Fairfax & Favor, and the amazing relationship we have with our customers, for them to open their own store in what is effectively 'our area' is surely a good business decision, albeit for Fairfax & Favor, and not for The Shoe Room.

"There is no doubt we have endorsed, promoted, introduced and sometimes defended Fairfax & Favor to a great many people in our area these past six years. In that time too, we have built a reputation second to none for the extraordinary lengths we will go to, to make sure our customers are totally happy with not only the product, but also the service we provide. We are still a premium stockist of Fairfax & Favor and long may that continue.”

Bawtry already has a reputation for high-end shopping. The town developed around an inland port on the River Idle before the coaching trade took over in the 18th century, when the Great North Road passed through Bawtry. Many of the townhouses on the main thoroughfare date from this period.