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| Contents | |
| James J Fox & Robert Lewis | |
| Fox's early Dublin years | |
| Fox's import business | |
| Fox (St James's) Ltd | |
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| Robert Lewis |
London is arguably the cigar capital of the world and Robert Lewis is the longest established tobacco merchant in London and probably the world. The company was founded by Christopher Lewis, a Welshman, who, after several impulsive false starts, eventually got his retail tobacconist business under way at 14 Long Acre in Covent Garden in 1787. The man who saved Christopher's firm from premature extinction was his relative, Robert Lewis, an established pharmaceutical drug broker of Bond-court, Walbrook.
The company prospered and moved to Great Newport Street. In 1830, the business moved again to 10 Castle Street near Leicester Square and in about 1834-35 it acquired the lease of 81 St James's Street - a street previously famous for its coffee and chocolate houses and now the centre of London's gentlemen's clubs and a fashionable shopping centre. Within a few years the 'branch' was more successful than its parent in Castle Street (which closed when its proprietor retired) and moved to bigger premises at 19 St James's Street, where it is still trading today.
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| James J Fox & Robert Lewis |
On 14 September 1992, Fox acquired the business of Robert Lewis, uniting two of the most respected names in the tobacco world. Both companies now trade as James J Fox & Robert Lewis at 19 St James's Street, London SW1 - one of the cigar world's most famous and prestigious addresses.
The first Havana cigars to reach England arrived at the Robert Lewis shop in London, in 1830. Since its move to 19 St James's Street in Victorian London, little has changed in this world-famous mecca for cigar aficionados, which still retains the relaxed atmosphere of a traditional British cigar divan and is the only place in the world where customers can sit in Winston Churchill's favourite chair and enjoy a fine smoke.
In 1997, at the Cohiba 30th anniversary dinner in Havana attended by Fidel Castro, James J Fox & Robert Lewis was among the three nominations in the category 'International - Cigar Retailer of the Year'.
In autumn 1997, James J Fox & Robert Lewis received a Royal Warrant of Appointment to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
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| Fox's early Dublin years |
James John Fox was born in London in 1842 and apprenticed to a tobacconist in the Strand, where he developed a flair for the trade and, in particular, cigars. One of his customers, H. M. Anketell-Jones, sowed the idea of settling in Dublin and young Fox moved there in the 1860s, working for several tobacco shops.
In 1869, James J Fox married Mary Anne Loony, a Liverpool tailor's daughter who had trained as a teacher. After their wedding the couple returned to 14 College Green, Dublin, where their first child, Walter, was born in January 1870. There were four more children, all daughters. The present Dublin family are Walter's children and grandchildren.
Early in the 1870s, Fox joined the staff of James Madden's firm at 119 Grafton Street, Dublin, which had been in business on this site since 1837. The policeman on duty outside the already famous shop was known as 'Madden's baby'. Madden had built his reputation as a blender of tobaccos for pipe smokers and was thinking of retiring. He handed over the reins to Fox at a time when cigars and snuff were established minor lines, and cigarettes were still a novelty.
To this day, several of Madden's blends are still sold by JJ Fox, including 'Provost's Mixture', a special order of pipe tobacco for the Provost of Trinity College, Dublin. Madden's death in 1878 was a watershed in Fox's career. Commercial Union bought the corner as an investment and demolished 119 Grafton Street and 37 College Green to make way for the present building.
On 12 December 1881, James Fox opened his doors as a tenant of the ground floor of the rebuilt 119 Grafton Street. He worked Dickensian hours, trading from 8.30am until 10pm, six days a week. The shop only shut on Sundays, Christmas Day and Good Friday, and on the afternoons of Boxing Day and Easter Monday.
Fox's list of customers grew rapidly and included Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar (down in our ledgers for a box of Rothschild cigars), most of the Irish nobility, every rank in the Army, Navy and Royal Irish Constabulary, clergymen, lawyers, doctors, country houses, hotels and Dublin's gentlemen's clubs. By the time of his death in 1916, James J Fox had become the most important tobacconist in Ireland.
Being so near the Front Gate of Trinity College, it was natural that there should be close links between the Fox tobacco shop and the world-famous university. Fox's always gave their address in advertisements as "opposite Trinity College". When Arthur Guinness made their well-publicised decision to advertise, the university student's magazine, 'T.C.D.' (for Trinity College Dublin) suggested the best form of promotion would be "Trinity College opposite Fox's".
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| Fox's import business |
In autumn 1939, Fox's (as it had become known) was turned into a private limited company. With the outbreak of war shortly afterwards, Fox's retail supplies dwindled rapidly and stocks reached a crisis level 18 months later. Freddie Fox, son of Walter, convinced the Irish civil servants to allow his company to import tobacco by post and the first 372 parcels, each containing 75 cigars, arrived in Dublin in April 1942. By August of that year, Fox launched a new company, Tobacco Importers Limited - a few years later their largest consignment arrived - 100 million American cigarettes.
On 27 December 1946, Fox took over an existing 40-year-old tobacco business at No. 2 Burlington Gardens in London. From January 1948 until his retirement, it was run by Fred Dew, who had previously worked in the tobacco department of the Army and Navy Stores.
In 1954, a deal with the Ardath Tobacco Company, a jointly-owned subsidiary of the Imperial Tobacco Company and of the BAT (British American Tobacco), resulted in dividing Fox's successful import business into two new businesses: the Astor Tobacco Company and, what was to remain the family company, Tobacco Distributors Ltd - which is still operating successfully today and has been providing cigarettes, cigars and tobacco for Dublin Airport for many years.
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| Fox (St James's) Ltd |
JJ Fox & Robert Lewis, 19 St James's Street,
London, SW1A 1ES
Tel:+44 (0)20 7930 3787 Fax:+44 (0)20 7495 0097
