Boodles is a privately held British luxury jeweller and jewellery designer group founded in 1798. Boodles is a family company located in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, it also has stores in London, Manchester, Dublin and Chester. Their flagship store is found on

New Bond Street Bond Street in the West End of London links Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. Since the 18th century the street has housed many prestigious and upmarket fashion retailers. The southern section is Old Bond Street and the l ...

, London.

History

Founded as Boodle and Dunthorne, the first shop opened in 1798 in Liverpool. Later, in 1910, it amalgamated with the Wainwright family, owners of another Liverpool jewellers. The business has remained with them ever since. In 1965 Boodles opened a second store in Chester and a third one in Manchester in 1982. Nicholas and Michael Wainwright took over from their father, Anthony Wainwright, in 1992. Under their stewardship, Boodles opened several stores in London. Boodles’ first London store opened on Brompton Road opposite Harrods. Later, they moved it to No.1

Sloane Street Sloane Street is a major London street in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea which runs north to south, from Knightsbridge to Sloane Square, crossing Pont Street about halfway along. History Sloane Street takes its name from Sir Han ...

. Boodles were due to launch their new showroom at No.6 Sloane Street in early 2017. Boodles’ second London store was on

Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash and James Burton. It runs from Waterloo Place ...

, and this also moved to Bond St, which is the current Boodles flagship store. Boodles now has nine stores including five in London:

Savoy Hotel The Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in the Strand in the City of Westminster in central London, England. Built by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions, it opened on 6 August 188 ...

, The Royal Exchange and

Harrods Harrods Limited is a department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It is currently owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. The Harrods brand also applies to other ...

, three in North West England; (

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

) and one in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Ireland. In late 2015, the Bond Street flagship showroom underwent a major expansion and renovation. It spans over 2,500 square feet. The family changed the company name from Boodle and Dunthorne to Boodles, and expanded the company to the brand it is today. The company started selling jewellery from its website in summer 2012. The history of Boodles is the subject of an exhibition at the

Lady Lever Art Gallery The Lady Lever Art Gallery is a museum founded and built by the industrialist and philanthropist William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme and opened in 1922. The Lady Lever Art Gallery is set in the garden village of Port Sunlight, on the Wirral ...

Port Sunlight Port Sunlight is a model village and suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside. It is located between Lower Bebington and New Ferry, on the Wirral Peninsula. Port Sunlight was built by Lever Brothers to accommodate workers in it ...

. On display are jewellery and objects relating to the company, including

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap ...

trophies.

Products

In its early years Boodles, was a silversmith and watchmaker along with jewellery making. During the 20th century the company provided

chronographs A chronograph is a specific type of watch that is used as a stopwatch combined with a display watch. A basic chronograph has an independent sweep second hand and a minute sub-dial; it can be started, stopped, and returned to zero by successive ...

and watches to air and naval officers. It also designed and crafted cups for sporting and non-sporting competitions including the solid gold trophy for the winner of the

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap ...

. In the second half of the 20th century Boodles emerged as a retailer of bespoke jewellery. The company sources diamonds and other

gemstones A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, an ...

, and designs its own range of jewellery. In 2012, the company launched an e-commerce website to sell its goods. This move was taken by the company to expand its products distribution worldwide. Boodles London Flagship Launch

Honours

In 2008, the Boodles Raindance Ring was selected to appear in the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

's permanent jewellery collection and resides there to this day.

Events

The Boodles is a five-day tennis exhibition at Stoke Park in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

, held in the run up to

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

. The event has attracted players such as

Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...

Rafael Nadal Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis ...

Andy Murray Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray h ...

and

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (; born 17 April 1985) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 5 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2012. Tsonga won 18 singles titles on th ...

. The

Boodles Boxing Ball The Boodles Boxing Ball is a society ball held in London. Overview The ball is organised by James Amos, director of Boodles, the nightclub owner Charlie Gilkes, Hugh Van Cutsem, Jez Lawson, Bear Maclean, Alice Beaumont and Alex Macewan.

is a biennial charity event held at the Grosvenor Park Hotel on Park Lane in London, with all proceeds going to charities such as the

Starlight Children's Foundation Starlight Children's Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1982. Starlight's programs include providing hospital wear, games, and deliveries to hospitalized children. The programs are provided directly to children through Starlight's ne ...

and

Cancer Research Cancer research is research into cancer to identify causes and develop strategies for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure. Cancer research ranges from epidemiology, molecular bioscience to the performance of clinical trials to evaluate and ...

. The ball has raised a total of £1.2 million for various charities since its first event in 2002. Boodles is the sponsor of the

Fred Winter Juvenile Novices' Handicap Hurdle The Fred Winter Juvenile Novices' Handicap Hurdle, known for sponsorship purposes as the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle, is a Grade 3 National Hunt hurdle race in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years. It ...

at the

Cheltenham Festival The Cheltenham Festival is a horse racing-based meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, with race prize money second only to the Grand National. The four-day festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Rac ...

, and the Boodles May Festival is a three-day horse race and opener to the

Chester Racecourse Chester Racecourse, also known as the Roodee, is a racecourse located in Chester, England. The horse racing venue is officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the "oldest racecourse still in operation". Horse racing in Chester dates ...

season.

TV

The TV documentary “The Million Pound Necklace: Inside Boodles” was aired on Channel 4 in 2014 and is following the creation of the Greenfire Suite, a jewellery collection made of emeralds valued at £2.8 Million.

References

{{reflist, 30em Luxury brands Jewellery retailers of the United Kingdom British jewellers Retail companies established in 1798 English brands Shops in London Companies based in Liverpool 1798 establishments in England British companies established in 1798