HALL BROTHERS TAILORS: TRADITIONS AND OXFORD DRESS
Directions
Exit St. Mary’s Church and turn right onto the High Street.
Walk west for about two minutes — past Brasenose College and a row of elegant shopfronts — until you reach No. 119 High Street, where Hall Brothers Tailors and Merchants still stands.
The shop remains a working tailor, renowned for traditional Oxford academic dress, college ties, and formal wear.
Orientation cue: Look for the dark green awning and gold-lettered sign “Hall Brothers — Established 1860.”
About
“Walk past University Church and out onto the High Street. Turn right. You may wish to visit Hall Brothers Tailors and Merchants at 119 High Street. Established in 1860, they are the perfect place to purchase a silk bow tie which was required for high table dinner in college. Halls is one of the finest clothiers in England.”
Founded in 1860, Hall Brothers has served generations of Oxford scholars, fellows, and students.
For dons like C.S. Lewis, clothing was less about fashion and more about continuity — the quiet dignity of belonging to a centuries-old tradition.
Lewis often dined at High Table in Magdalen College, where formal attire was expected: a black gown, crisp shirt, and silk bow tie — all of which could be purchased here.
He had little vanity, famously indifferent to style, yet he respected the rituals that bound the university together.
It’s easy to imagine him stepping through these very doors to replace a frayed collar or purchase another tie, grumbling at the expense but smiling at the unspoken charm of Oxford decorum.
Shops like Hall Brothers were part of the texture of his life — a reminder that, for all his brilliance, he was also just “Jack,” a man who liked routines, strong tea, and clothes that lasted a lifetime.
