Who Owns Liberty London?

Arthur Lasenby Liberty opened his shop at 218a Regent Street in 1875, funded by a £2,000 loan from his future father-in-law, selling ornaments and fabrics imported from Japan and the East. The store became the retail engine of the Aesthetic movement: Liberty fabrics defined an era of English design, and Oscar Wilde was an early customer.

Liberty incorporated in 1890 and built its landmark Tudor-revival flagship on Great Marlborough Street in 1924, its timbers reportedly sourced from decommissioned Royal Navy ships. The fabric department grew into a design institution, accumulating an archive now exceeding 46,000 prints and producing the Tana Lawn cotton that became its signature material.

The twentieth century brought fluctuating fortunes: public listing, conglomerate ownership under MWB, and a 1990s diminishment before a 2000s revival restored luxury positioning. BlueGem Capital bought the business for £32 million in 2010 and engineered a turnaround: sales rose from £63 million to £166 million by fiscal 2018, EBITDA went from near zero to £25 million, and the Liberty London own-brand accessories line launched in 2016.

The July 2019 Glendower-led acquisition crystallized those gains at £300 million. Under current ownership the store weathered COVID closures, rebuilt international tourist traffic, and invested in refurbishment of the flagship. Buying director Sarah Coonan, credited with much of the modern merchandising renaissance, departed in January 2026 after 15 years.