Ted Baker leaves ‘ugly’ brown building for ‘gorgeous’ brown building HQ

Move expected to save fashion brand millions in rent every year

Ted Baker is moving out of its Ugly Brown Building headquarters in King’s Cross, London, after 20 years (Google)

Ted Baker is moving out of its Ugly Brown Building headquarters after 20 years.

The fashion brand has signed a 10-year lease with Westminster City Council, with an annual rent of £900,000, for what will be called the Gorgeous Brown Building in Fitzrovia, central London, where it hopes to move next summer.

The move to the new property at 101 Cleveland Street will see the company’s rent significantly reduced, with current charges at its King’s Cross base of £3.25m, and up to £4.2m if it took up an option to lease another block.

Ted Baker had previously owned the Ugly Brown Building but it was sold to British Airways Pension Trustees for £78.8m last year following the departure of founder Ray Kelvin, who faced allegations of workplace harassment. He denied any wrongdoing.

Bosses said the new 30,000sq ft HQ “is a fitting home for the brand with its distinctive flat-iron shape and epic ceiling heights”.

Chief executive Rachel Osborne said: “We are delighted to have secured a gorgeous building as our new global HQ in Fitzrovia.

“It will enable us to work more efficiently and collaboratively, and most importantly to express our unique brand personality.

“We look forward to making our team members comfortable and hosting our global partners in our new showrooms from summer 2022.

“Having spent more than 20 years in the Ugly Brown Building, it will be invigorating to be in our new site in Fitzrovia.

“Times have changed, as have our ways of working, and our brand has a refreshed personality and energy, which will be perfectly reflected in the Gorgeous Brown Building.”

Additional reporting by Press Association