Arthur Beale

[2] They then operated from premises on Shaftesbury Avenue when John Buckingham and then the new proprietor, Arthur Beale, were exclusive suppliers of climbing rope to early members of the Alpine Club.

[4] It also supplied ice axes to polar explorer, Ernest Shackleton; the flagpole for Buckingham Palace and rigging for escapologists and the window displays of Selfridges department store.

[5] The business now trades mainly as a yacht chandler, stocking and supplying nautical equipment such as a monkey's fist – a weighted ball of rope used for line-throwing.

Eugenia Bell, writing in The Traditional Shops and Restaurants of London, praised the establishment:[11]The teal shopfront matches the pegboards inside, festooned with gleaming brass shackles, bolts and hooks of every size and description.

In 1999, Time Out likewise commented on their incongruity but praised the range of nautical equipment:[12]There are some odd shops in London, but few beat the surprise factor of finding a yacht chandler in Shaftesbury Avenue.