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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 enterprises undertaken by the Harrods group of companies, including Harrods Estates, Harrods Aviation and Air Harrods. The store occupies a site and has 330 departments covering of retail space. It is one of the largest and most famous department stores in the world. The Harrods motto is ''Omnia Omnibus Ubique'', which is Latin for "all things for all people, everywhere". Several of its departments, including the Seasonal Christmas department and the Food Halls, are well known. Harrods was also a founder of the International Association of Department Stores in 1928, which is still active today, and remained a member until 1935. Franck Chitham, Harrods' president at the time, was president of the Association in 1930.


History

In 1824, at the age of 25, Charles Henry Harrod established a business at 228 Borough High Street in
Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...
. He ran this business, variously listed as a draper, mercer, and a haberdasher, until at least 1831. During 1825, the business was listed as 'Harrod and Wicking, Linen Drapers, Retail', but this partnership was dissolved at the end of that year. His first grocery business appears to be as 'Harrod & Co. Grocers' at 163 Upper
Whitecross Street Whitecross Street is a short street in Islington, in Inner London. It features an eponymous street market and a large housing estate. Since 2010, there has been an annual Whitecross Street Party one weekend in the summer, together with an exhi ...
, Clerkenwell, E.C.1., in 1832. In 1834, in London's
East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...
, he established a wholesale grocery in Stepney at 4 Cable Street with a special interest in tea. In 1849, to escape the vice of the inner city and to capitalise on trade to the Great Exhibition of 1851 in nearby
Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...
, Harrod took over a small shop in the district of Brompton, on the site of the current store. Beginning in a single room employing two assistants and a messenger boy, Harrod's son
Charles Digby Harrod Charles Digby Harrod (25 January 1841 – 15 August 1905)N. Hansen, ‘Harrod, Charles Digby (1841–1905)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200accessed 11 Aug 2014/ref> was an English businessman who expanded ...
built the business into a thriving retail operation selling medicines, perfumes, stationery, fruits and vegetables. Harrods rapidly expanded, acquired the adjoining buildings, and employed one hundred people by 1881. However, the store's booming fortunes were reversed in early December 1883, when it burnt to the ground. Remarkably, Charles Harrod fulfilled all of his commitments to his customers to make Christmas deliveries that year—and made a record profit in the process. In short order, a new building was built on the same site, and soon Harrods extended credit for the first time to its best customers, among them
Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
, Lillie Langtry, Ellen Terry,
Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...
,
Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...
, Gertrude Lawrence,
Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the Theatre of the U ...
and
Vivien Leigh Vivien Leigh ( ; 5 November 1913 – 8 July 1967; born Vivian Mary Hartley), styled as Lady Olivier after 1947, was a British actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, for her definitive performances as Scarlett O'Hara in ''Gon ...
, Sigmund Freud, A. A. Milne, and many members of the British Royal Family. In 1921, Milne bought the 18-inch Alpha Farnell teddy bear from the store for his son
Christopher Robin Milne Christopher Robin Milne (21 August 1920 – 20 April 1996) was an English author and bookseller and the only child of author A. A. Milne. As a child, he was the basis of the character Christopher Robin in his father's Winnie-the-Pooh stories a ...
who would name it Edward, then Winnie, becoming the basis for Winnie-the-Pooh. A chance meeting in London with businessman, Edgar Cohen, eventually led to Charles Harrod selling his interest in the store for £120,000 () via a stock market flotation in 1889. The new company was called Harrod's Stores Limited. Sir Alfred James Newton became chairman and Richard Burbidge managing director. Financier William Mendel was appointed to the board in 1891 and he raised funding for many of the business expansion plans. Richard Burbidge was succeed in 1917 by his son Woodman Burbidge and he in turn by his son Richard in 1935. On 16 November 1898, Harrods debuted England's first "moving staircase" ( escalator) in their Brompton Road stores; the device was actually a woven leather conveyor belt-like unit with a mahogany and "silver plate-glass" balustrade. Nervous customers were offered
brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with ...
at the top to revive them after their 'ordeal'. The department store was acquired by
House of Fraser House of Fraser (also operating as Frasers) is a British department store group with 44 locations across the United Kingdom, which is now part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it w ...
in 1959, which in turn was purchased by the Fayed brothers in 1985. In 1994, Harrods was moved out of the House of Fraser Group to remain a private company prior to the group's relisting on the London Stock Exchange.


Qatar Holdings ownership

Following denial that it was for sale, Harrods was sold to Qatar Holdings, the sovereign wealth fund of the State of Qatar in May 2010. A fortnight previously, chairman of Harrods since 1985,
Mohamed Al-Fayed Mohamed Al-Fayed (; arz, محمد الفايد ; born 27 January 1929) is an Egyptian-born businessman whose residence and chief business interests have been in the United Kingdom since the late 1960s. His business interests include ownership of ...
, had stated that "People approach us from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar. Fair enough. But I put two fingers up to them. It is not for sale. This is not
Marks and Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...
or Sainsbury's. It is a special place that gives people pleasure. There is only one Mecca." The sale was concluded in the early hours of 8 May, when Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani came to London to finalise the deal, saying that the acquisition of Harrods would add "much value" to the investment portfolio of Qatar Holdings while his deputy, Hussain Ali Al-Abdulla, called it a "landmark transaction". A spokesman for Mohamed Al-Fayed said "in reaching the decision to retire,
ayed Ayed ( ar, عايد or عايض) is an Arabic surname. Notable people with this surname include: * Anouar Ayed (born 1978), Tunisian handball player * Hamdi Ayed (born 1993), Qatari handball player * Lotfi Ayed (born 1959), Swedish boxer * Makrem A ...
wished to ensure that the legacy and traditions that he has built up in Harrods would be continued." Al-Fayed later revealed in an interview that he decided to sell Harrods following the difficulty in getting his dividend approved by the trustee of the Harrods pension fund. Al-Fayed said "I'm here every day, I can't take my profit because I have to take a permission of those bloody idiots. I say is this right? Is this logic? Somebody like me? I run a business and I need to take the trustee's permission to take my profit." Al-Fayed was appointed honorary chairman of Harrods, a position he held for six months. With the previously operating Disney Cafe and Disney Store, the Disney at Harrods partnership added the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique salon on 25 November 2013 to those stores.


Significant event timeline

*1824: Charles Henry Harrod starts his first business as a draper, at 228, Borough High Street, Southwark, London. *1834: Charles Henry Harrod (1799–1885) founds a wholesale grocery in Stepney, East London *1849: Harrods moves to the Knightsbridge area of London, near
Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...
*1861: Harrods undergoes a transformation when it was taken over by Harrod's son, Charles Digby Harrod (1841–1905) *1883: On 6 December, fire guts the shop buildings, giving the family the opportunity to rebuild on a grander scale *1889: Charles Digby Harrod retires, and Harrods shares are floated on the London Stock Exchange under the name ''Harrod's Stores Limited'' *1905: Begun in 1894, the present building is completed to the design of architect Charles William Stephens. *1914: Harrods opened its first and only foreign branch in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It became independent of the British shop in the late 1940s, but continued to trade under the Harrods name, for many years the only Harrods outside Britain. *1914: Harrods buys the
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 ...
department store Dickins & Jones. *1914:
Harrods Furniture Depository The Harrods Furniture Depository buildings flank the south bank of the River Thames near Hammersmith Bridge in Barnes, London, built on the site of an old soap factory in 1894 as a storage centre for the larger items that could not be taken into ...
built in Barnes, near Hammersmith Bridge. *1919: Harrods buys the Manchester department store,
Kendals Kendals is the previous name of a department store in Manchester, England. Since 2005, the store now operates as House of Fraser. The store had previously been known during its operation as Kendal Milne, Kendal, Milne & Co, Kendal, Milne & Faul ...
; it took on the Harrods name for a short time in the 1920s, but the name was changed back to Kendals following protests from staff and customers. *1920: Harrods buys London department store Swan & Edgar and Manchester retailer Walter Carter Ltd. *1923: Mah-Jongg (lemur) was sold to
Stephen Courtauld Sir Stephen Lewis Courtauld (27 February 1883 – 9 October 1967) was an English philanthropist associated with geographical exploration, the restoration of Eltham Palace in south-east London, and cultural and education causes, both in the UK a ...
and Virginia Courtauld (née Peirano). Mah-Jongg lived with the Courtaulds for fifteen years, accompanying the couple on their travels and changes of residence, including
Eltham Palace Eltham Palace is a large house at Eltham ( ) in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The house consists of the medieval great hall of a former royal residence, to which an Art Deco extension was added in the 1930s. ...
in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. *1928: Harrods buys London department store D H Evans. *1946: Harrods buys the Sheffield department store John Walsh. *1949: Harrods buys William Henderson & Co, a Liverpool department store. *1955: Harrods buys Birmingham department store Rackhams. *1959: The British department store holding company
House of Fraser House of Fraser (also operating as Frasers) is a British department store group with 44 locations across the United Kingdom, which is now part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it w ...
buys Harrods, fighting off competition from Debenhams and United Drapery Stores. *1969: Christian the lion was bought at Harrods by John Rendall and Anthony 'Ace' Bourke. The
lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...
was set free in Kenya after reaching maturity. *1983: A terrorist attack by the Provisional IRA outside the Brompton store kills six people. *1985: The Fayed brothers buy House of Fraser, including Harrods Store, for . *1986: The small town of Otorohanga in New Zealand briefly changes its name to Harrodsville in response to legal threats made by Mohamed Al-Fayed against a person with the surname of Harrod, who had used the name "Harrod's" for his shop. *1990: A Harrods shop opens on board the RMS ''Queen Mary'' in Long Beach, California, which was then owned by the Walt Disney Company. Harrods gives right to Duty Free International for a licence to operate a Harrods Signature Shop at Toronto Pearson International Airport's Terminal 3 (closed shortly after) *1993: An IRA terrorist attack injures four people. *1994: The relationship between House of Fraser and Harrods is severed. Harrods remains under the ownership of the Fayed family, and House of Fraser is floated on the
stock exchange A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for th ...
. *1997: An English court issued an injunction to restrain the Buenos Aires Harrods store from trading under the Harrods name, but the House of Lords in 1998 dismissed Fayed's lawsuit. *1998: The store on Buenos Aires closed after racking up large amounts of debt, there had been offers to buy the store from
Falabella The Falabella is an Argentine list of horse breeds, breed of small horse. It is among the smallest of horse breeds, with a height at the withers in the range .. History The ancestral stock of the horse of South America descended from horses bro ...
, El Corte Inglés, Printemps and more but Atilio Gilbertoni the owner of Harrods in Buenos Aires did not accept the offers as he wanted to keep the controlling stake in the brand *2000: A Harrods shop opens on board the ''
Queen Elizabeth 2 ''Queen Elizabeth 2'' (''QE2'') is a retired British ocean liner converted into a floating hotel. Originally built for the Cunard Line, the ship, named as the second ship named ''Queen Elizabeth'', was operated by Cunard as both a transatlantic ...
'', owned by the
Cunard Line Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Berm ...
. *2006: The Harrods "102" shop opens opposite the main shop in Brompton Road; it features concessions like Krispy Kreme and Yo! Sushi, as well as florists, a herbalist, a masseur, and an oxygen spa. The store closed in 2013. *2006: Omar Fayed, Mohamed's youngest son, joins the Harrods board. *2010: Fayed announces he has sold Harrods to the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). It has been reported that the QIA paid for the Knightsbridge store, in a deal signed in the early hours of 8 May 2010. *2010: Harrods looked at the possibility of expanding to China and opening a new shop in Shanghai. Michael Ward, managing director of Harrods, said, "There are other areas of the world where we could operate profitably." The number of Chinese shoppers visiting Harrods was increasing, and the average spent by a Chinese shopper was three times that of any other nationality. *2012: The figurative sculptures that once adorned the Harrods food hall are consigned for sale at West Middlesex Auction Rooms. The two Mermaids supporting a giant Clam and the Stag and Boar sheltering under an English Oak are purchased by Greaves & Thomas for inclusion in an elaborate fountain for Ryde, Isle of Wight. *2017: Harrods Bank is sold to Tandem and rebranded to Tandem Bank, Harrods Bank operated since 1893 *2020: after lockdowns and restriction during the covid pandemic, Harrods made a loss of £68 million in 2020, reduced staff numbers, paid no dividend to its owners and said that no dividend was likely for another two years, and faced a strike by dozens of restaurant workers.


Products and services

The shop's 330 departments offer a wide range of products and services. Products on offer include clothing for women, men, children and infants, electronics, jewellery, sporting gear, bridal
trousseau Trousseau may refer to: *A dowry *The wardrobe of a bride, including the wedding dress or similar clothing *A hope chest, glory box or its contents *Trousseau (grape), a wine grape also known as Bastardo ** Trousseau Gris, a white mutation of the ...
, pet accessories, toys (including Christmas and signature teddy bears), food and drink, health and beauty items, packaged gifts, stationery, housewares, home appliances, furniture, and much more. A representative sample of shop services includes 23 restaurants, serving everything from high tea to tapas to
pub food A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
to haute cuisine; a personal shopping-assistance programme known as "By Appointment"; a watch repair service; a tailor; a dispensing pharmacy; a beauty spa and salon; a barbers shop; Ella Jade Bathroom Planning and Design Service; private events planning and catering; food delivery; a wine steward;
bespoke The word ''bespoke'' () has evolved from a verb meaning 'to speak for something', to its contemporary usage as an adjective. Originally, the adjective ''bespoke'' described tailor-made suits and shoes. Later, it described anything commissioned t ...
picnic hampers and gift boxes; bespoke cakes; bespoke fragrance formulations; and Bespoke Arcades machines. Up to 300,000 customers visit the shop on peak days, comprising the highest proportion of customers from non-English speaking countries of any department store in London. More than five thousand staff from over fifty different countries work at Harrods. In October 2009, Harrods Bank started selling gold bars and coins that customers could buy "off the shelf". The gold products ranged from to , and could be purchased within Harrods Bank. They also offered storage services, as well as the ability to sell back gold to Harrods in the future. Harrods used to provide paid “luggage room” services for storing luggage/ items however post COVID they stopped providing this service.


Royal warrants

Harrods was the holder of
royal warrant A royal warrant is a document issued by a monarch which confers rights or privileges on the recipient, or has the effect of law. Royal warrant may refer to: * Royal warrant of appointment, warrant to tradespeople who supply goods or services to a r ...
s from: *
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during h ...
(Provisions and Household Goods) * The Duke of Edinburgh (Outfitters) * The Prince of Wales (Outfitters and Saddlers) * Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother (China and Glass) In August 2010, in a letter to '' The Daily Telegraph'', chairman
Mohamed Al-Fayed Mohamed Al-Fayed (; arz, محمد الفايد ; born 27 January 1929) is an Egyptian-born businessman whose residence and chief business interests have been in the United Kingdom since the late 1960s. His business interests include ownership of ...
revealed that he had burnt Harrods royal warrants, after taking them down in 2000. Harrods had held the Royal warrants since 1910. Describing the warrants as a "curse", Al-Fayed claimed that business had tripled since their removal. The Duke of Edinburgh removed his warrant in January 2000, and the other warrants were removed from Harrods by Al-Fayed in December, pending their five-yearly review. The Duke of Edinburgh had been banned from Harrods by Al-Fayed. Film of the burning of the warrants in 2009 was shown in the final scene of '' Unlawful Killing'', a film funded by Al-Fayed and directed by Keith Allen.


Memorials

Since the deaths of
Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...
, and Dodi Fayed, Mohamed Al-Fayed's son, two memorials commissioned by Al-Fayed have been erected inside Harrods to the couple. The first, located at the base of the Egyptian Escalator, was unveiled on 12 April 1998, consisting of photographs of the two behind a pyramid-shaped display that holds a wine glass smudged with lipstick from Diana's last dinner as well as what is described as an engagement ring Dodi purchased the day before they died.Rick Steves
Getting Up To Snuff In London
/www.ricksteves.com.
The second memorial, unveiled in 2005 and located by the escalator at door three is entitled ''
Innocent Victims ''Innocent Victims'' is a copper statue of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed, which was on display at the Harrods department store in London, England, between 2005 and 2018. It was commissioned by Dodi's father Mohamed Al-Fayed when he o ...
'', a bronze statue of the two dancing on a beach beneath the wings of an albatross, a bird said to symbolise the "Holy Spirit".Harrods unveils Diana, Dodi statue
CNN.com, 1 September 2005.
The sculpture was created by
William Mitchell William Mitchell may refer to: People Media and the arts * William Mitchell (sculptor) (1925–2020), English sculptor and muralist * William Frederick Mitchell (1845–1914), British naval artist * William M. Mitchell, American writer, minister ...
, a close friend of Al-Fayed and artistic design advisor to Harrods for 40 years. Al-Fayed said he wanted to keep the pair's "spirit alive" through the statue. After the death of Michael Jackson, Al-Fayed announced that they had already been discussing plans to build a memorial statue. This was unveiled in April 2011 at the rear of
Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against M ...
football ground ( Fulham F.C.) but removed in September 2013 on the orders of new club owner
Shahid Khan Shahid Rafiq Khan ( ur, ; born July 18, 1950)"Sha ...
.


Dress code

In 1989, Harrods introduced a dress code for customers. The store turns away people whose dress is not in compliance with the code. Forbidden items include cycling shorts; high-cut shorts, Bermuda or beach shorts; swimwear; athletic singlets; flip flops or thong sandals; bare feet; bare midriff; or wearing dirty or unkempt clothing. Patrons found not in compliance with the code and barred from entry include pop star
Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...
,
Jason Donovan Jason Sean Donovan (born 1 June 1968) is an Australian actor and singer. He initially achieved fame in the Australian soap ''Neighbours'', playing Scott Robinson, before beginning a career in music in 1988. In the UK he has sold over 3 mi ...
,
Luke Goss Luke Damon Goss (born 29 September 1968) is an English actor, and drummer of the 1980s band Bros. He has appeared in numerous films including ''Blade II'' (2002) as Jared Nomak, ''One Night with the King'' (2006) as King Xerxes, '' Hellboy II ...
, a Scout troop, a woman with a Mohican hair cut, and the entire first team from
FC Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk ( uk, Футбольний клуб «Шахтар» Донецьк , short nickname "miners") is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Donetsk. In 2014, due to the War in Donbass, the club was ...
who were wearing tracksuits.


Size

The store occupies a site and has over one million square feet () of selling space in over 330 departments making it the biggest department store in Europe. The UK's second-biggest shop, Selfridges, Oxford Street, is a little over half the size with of selling space. By comparison Europe's second-largest department store the
KaDeWe The Kaufhaus des Westens (), abbreviated to KaDeWe, is a department store in Berlin, Germany. With over of retail space and more than 380,000 articles available, it is the second-largest department store in Europe after Harrods in London. It att ...
in Berlin has a retail space of .


Criticism

Harrods and
Mohamed Al-Fayed Mohamed Al-Fayed (; arz, محمد الفايد ; born 27 January 1929) is an Egyptian-born businessman whose residence and chief business interests have been in the United Kingdom since the late 1960s. His business interests include ownership of ...
were criticised for selling real animal fur, provoking regular protests organised outside Harrods. Harrods is the only department store in Britain that has continued to sell fur. Harrods was sharply criticised in 2004 by the Hindu community for marketing a line of feminine underwear (designed by Roberto Cavalli) which featured the images of Indian goddesses. The line was eventually withdrawn and formal apologies were made. Harrods has been criticised by ''Guardian'' journalist
Sali Hughes Sali Hughes (born 21 February 1975) is a Welsh journalist, writer and broadcaster. She is ''The Guardian''s resident beauty columnist. Early life and education Hughes was born on 21 February 1975 and grew up in Blackwood, Caerphilly. Her father w ...
as "deeply sexist" for making female employees wear six kinds of makeup at all times without requiring this of male employees. Harrods was criticised by members of the Black community after the ''
Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...
'' reported that Harrods staff told a black woman that she would not be employed unless she chemically straightened her hair, stating that her natural hair style was "unprofessional". Harrods' restaurants and cafes included a 12.5% discretionary service charge on customers' bills, but failed to share the full proceeds with kitchen and service staff. Several employees joined the UVW union, which claimed that 483 affected employees were losing up to £5,000 each in tips every year. A surprise protest and roadblock organised by the union outside Harrods during the January sales of 2017 was followed by an announcement that "an improved tronc system" would give 100% of service charges to staff.


Litigation

In 1986, the town of Otorohanga, New Zealand, briefly changed its name to "Harrodsville". This was a protest in support of a restaurateur, Henry Harrod of Palmerston North, who was being forced to change the name of his restaurant following the threat of lawsuits from Mohamed Al Fayed, the then owner of Harrods department store. As a show of solidarity for Henry Harrod, and in anticipation of actions against other similar-sounding businesses, it was proposed that every business in Otorohanga change its name to "Harrods". With the support of the District Council, Otorohanga temporarily changed the town's name to Harrodsville. After being lampooned in the British tabloids, Al Fayed dropped the legal action and Harrodsville and its shops reverted to their former names. The town's response raised widespread media interest around the world, with the BBC World Service and newspapers in Greece, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Canada covering the story. On 27 October 2008, in the case of Harrods Ltd v. Harrods Limousine Ltd, the Harrods store applied to the
Company Names Tribunal The Company Names Tribunal was created on 1 October 2008 in the United Kingdom and is a direct result of the coming into force of Section 69 of the Companies Act 2006. The Company Names Tribunal is administered by the UK Intellectual Property Off ...
under s.69(1)(b) Companies Act 2006 for a change of name of Harrods Limousine Ltd, which had been registered at Companies House since 14 November 2007. The application went un-defended by the respondent and the adjudicator ordered on 16 January 2009 that Harrods Limousine Ltd must change their name within one month. Additionally the respondent was ordered not to cause or permit any steps to be taken to register another company with an offending name which could interfere, due to its similarity, with the goodwill of the applicant. Finally, Harrods Limousine Ltd was ordered to pay Harrods' costs for the litigation.


Controversy

Asma al-Assad Asma Fawaz al-Assad (born 11 August 1975) is the First Lady of Syria. Born and raised in London to Syrian parents, she is married to the 19th and current President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad. Assad graduated from King's College London in 1996 ...
, the wife of the President of Syria,
Bashar al-Assad Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the ...
, used an alias to shop at Harrods despite economic sanctions imposed by the European Union that froze funds belonging to her and her husband.


See also

* Harrods Buenos Aires * Fortnum & Mason *
Jenners Jenners is a former well-established department store in Edinburgh, Scotland, situated on Princes Street. It was Scotland's oldest independent department store until the retail business was acquired by House of Fraser in 2005. It closed in Dec ...
, known as the "Harrods of the North"


References


Sources

*'' Guinness World Records 2007'', published by Guinness (8 August 2006),


Further reading

* *


External links


Official website
* {{Authority control Buildings and structures in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
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 ...
Retail companies based in London Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Department stores of the United Kingdom House of Fraser Retail buildings in London British Royal Warrant holders Shops in London Tourist attractions in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Department store buildings in the United Kingdom 1834 establishments in England Knightsbridge Food halls Retail companies established in 1834 British companies established in 1834 Buildings by C. W. Stephens