Beaconsfield: Petticote Layne shop opens in Old Town

Petticote Layne has celebrated its first month since opening on London End in Beaconsfield Old Town.  

Tucked between Nuad Thai and Achimi Japanese restaurant, the clothing boutique boasts stylish prints, quality materials, and, best of all, only a handful of stock of each item.

Owner Debby Slevin said: “So when it’s gone, it’s gone.

“A lot of the brands we stock are not sold anywhere else on a 20-mile radius. You don’t have to worry about your friend having the same dress.”

Debby praised the residents and other business owners for being “so welcoming”.

“I absolutely love Beaconsfield. And the surrounding areas. People are so happy that shops are opening again here. I’ve got a couple of people now who just pop to say hello even if they are not shopping and all the shop keepers have come in to say hello and offered to help if I need anything.”

Keeping Debby company in the boutique is tiny seven-year-old Eevee who mostly snoozes in her basket by the till (Image: NQ)

Launching the chic Beaconsfield shop took a gruelling two and a half years for the businesswoman.

Before coronavirus, Debby was on the cusps of opening a beauty treatment clinic, but two weeks before the big launch, the global pandemic hit.

She began looking for a clothes boutique in the area after her mum sadly passed away and her family sold her house in Spain.

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Despite the boutique being “just rubble, no electricity” when she viewed it, she jumped on the opportunity, and six weeks later she and her family were headed to Beaconsfield from Hertfordshire.  

Moving her whole life was “so hard,” the mum-of-two admitted. She moved together with her disabled brother and her eldest child who had come to live with her for a while.

“I didn’t know anybody. I cried for three months, because I didn’t know anybody,” she said.

She said she was advised to open in New Town instead because of more footfall, but she felt the Old Town was a “really good fit.”

“This is a destination boutique. It’s not necessarily going to do really well by massive advertising. It is more for local people to come in regularly and see what’s new. For me the whole feel is everyone is welcome. ” Debby said.

The response has been “amazing” and she was excited to learn even more what the customers want to guide her buying from the selected designers.

Next, she will get the upstairs showroom ready for men’s clothing, more home accessories and jewellery plus the launch of private appointments in a couple of months’ time.

“What I’d really like is someone doesn’t have time in their working week or it’s their mum’s birthday they can come in and have a glass of wine and they can book on the day the shop is closed,” she added.