John Hatchard John Hatchard John Hatchard (1769–1849) was an English publisher and bookseller, in Piccadilly, London. The Hatchards bookshop there is still in business. Hatchard had a trial at the works of the printer Thomas Bensley. He then served on apprenticeship, with John Ginger of College Street, Westminster. He later became an assistant to Thomas Payne of Mews Gate, and went into business on his own account at 173 Piccadilly, London. Starting there in 1797, he had the largest business in the retail book trade in London after four years. In 1801 Hatchard moved from 173 Piccadilly to No. 189–190; in 1820
Simpsons of Piccadilly in 1934 Alexander Simpson wanted a store in which to stock the entire S Simpson range in central London. Wanting a location near Savile Row so that the foreign visitors to that street could go to examine Simpson clothes nearby for its high quality ready-to-wear tailoring, in 1935 the site of the old Geological Museum in Piccadilly was to be sold on a 99-year building lease, which Simpson won at auction for £11,000. The site had a frontage on both Piccadilly and on Jermyn Street (rear entrance) with a footprint of about and an easy walking distance from Savile Row.