Button shop owner ‘amazed’ at response to fundraiser

Maureen Rose, who runs Taylor’s Buttons out of a tiny shop in Cleveland Street, says she is “amazed” by the public response to the fundraising appeal she set up in an effort to save her business from closure.

Last month she appealed for donations in an effort to try to pay off £17,000 of rent arrears that dates back to the time of the Covid restrictions when the shop had to close for many months. She faced eviction from her shop and the business that she has run for more than 50 years.

The Fitzrovia News ran the story last week which helped to garner support for the campaign. It was then picked up by The London Minute and more donations flowed in.

Then at the end of last week, Spitalfields Life ran the story and hundreds of its readers responded to save the iconic little shop and business.

More than 700 supporters chipped in to help pay off the debt — smashing the fundraising target.

Taylors has been around for over a century, supplying the West End theatre industry and people from all over the world with buttons. The shop opened at Cleveland Street in 2000 and was previously run from Silver Place in Soho. 

Maureen Rose told The Fitzrovia News that she was “delighted and amazed” by the response and thanked everyone who donated.

However, she says the landlord is still not returning her calls. So the story is not over yet, it seems.

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