If ever proof was needed that I am a North London boy, it's this:
It has long been a favourite of the Queen and is a familiar haunt for that breed of the privileged young known as Sloane Rangers.
For the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer, there was nowhere else to have their wedding list. But proof that no one is immune from the credit crunch came yesterday when it was announced that the holding company for the General Trading store in Chelsea had been placed into administration.
According to Sarah Vine:
The General Trading Company is - or was - to nice middle-class girls like me what the Liverpool branch of Selfridges is to WAGs: the centre of the shopping universe. All those marvellous (and completely useless) leather pigs, splendid ethnic lamps, exotic rugs, stylish retro toys and interesting vases. The thing is, until I opened my Times this morning and read the above, I had never heard of the General Trading Company.
This place, on the other hand...
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