Liberty Retail Limited

Who owns Liberty London?
Liberty is majority owned by a consortium led by Glendower Capital, which acquired the business in July 2019 at a roughly £300 million valuation. Former BlueGem Capital partners and other investors hold minority stakes.

Is Liberty publicly traded?
No. Liberty has been privately held since BlueGem Capital took it private in 2010, and it remains private equity owned.

When was Liberty founded?
Arthur Lasenby Liberty opened the first Liberty shop on Regent Street in 1875. The famous Tudor-revival flagship building on Great Marlborough Street opened in 1924.

What is Liberty known for?
Liberty is known for its curated luxury department store and its fabric business, particularly the floral Liberty prints and Tana Lawn cotton produced from an archive of more than 46,000 designs.

Does Liberty have other stores?
The business centers on the single Soho flagship. Its fabrics are distributed globally, and Liberty products sell through its e-commerce site and selected partners, but it does not operate a department store chain.

Who is the CEO of Liberty?
Adil Mehboob-Khan has been chief executive since 2018.

Arthur Lasenby Liberty opened his first shop at 218a Regent Street in 1875 with a £2,000 loan from his future father-in-law, selling ornaments, fabrics and objects imported from Japan and the East. The store rode the Victorian fascination with Aestheticism and became a fashion destination; Oscar Wilde was among its early customers.

Liberty became a public limited company in 1890 and expanded through the early twentieth century, building the landmark mock-Tudor flagship on Great Marlborough Street in 1924, its timbers reportedly sourced from two Royal Navy ships. The store's fabric department grew into a design institution: Liberty prints became synonymous with English floral textiles, and the company collaborated with designers from William Morris onward.

Post-war decades brought mixed fortunes. The company listed on the London Stock Exchange, then passed through corporate owners. It was acquired by MWB Group in the 1970s era of conglomerate ownership, and by the 1990s its retail business had diminished. A 2000s revival under new management restored the store's luxury positioning, culminating in BlueGem Capital's £32 million purchase in 2010.

Under BlueGem, sales grew from £63 million to £166 million and EBITDA from near zero to £25 million by fiscal 2018. The firm repositioned the store's buying toward exclusive and emerging designers, invested in e-commerce (online sales rose from £1 million to £14 million) and launched the Liberty London own-brand line. The 2019 Glendower-led recapitalization crystallized those gains at a £300 million valuation.

Through the 2020s the company weathered COVID-era store closures, rebuilt international tourist traffic, and invested in refurbishment of the flagship. Post-pandemic performance strengthened; trade press described a retail renaissance under buying director Sarah Coonan, who announced her departure effective January 2026 after 15 years. The Glendower consortium remains the owner as of November 2026.

Liberty has emphasized longevity and craftsmanship as sustainability credentials: fabric sales support repair and craft economies, and the store has expanded resale and vintage offerings. The company publishes supplier standards consistent with UK modern slavery reporting requirements. It does not hold B Corp certification. Its most material environmental impact is textile printing, conducted through European mills with water-management standards; the company highlights its European supply chain as a lower-impact alternative to fast fashion sourcing.

The store itself is a designated landmark and one of London's most recognized retail buildings. Liberty has been honored in UK retail awards and consistently ranks in press lists of the world's best department stores. Its in-house buying team and designers have collected British fashion industry recognition, and the Tana Lawn fabric is regularly cited as an iconic British textile.

Liberty's public record is comparatively clean for a 150-year-old retailer. It faced the same scrutiny over COVID-era furlough and business rates relief that applied across UK retail, and periodic criticism over luxury price positioning. There are no major regulatory sanctions, product recalls or legal disputes of note in its recent history.