In London’s exclusive St James’s Street, among the gentlemen’s members’ clubs and shops selling top-end shotguns and cigars, is a retailer that is rarefied even by this district’s standards.
Sharps Pixley sells gold — from bars worth tens of thousands of pounds to wafer-thin slivers worth under £100. There are also gold coins, some of which are capital gains tax-exempt, making them a particular favourite ahead of this week’s budget.
Business is brisk: when The Sunday Times visited last week, three people were waiting to be served, while others were checking deposit boxes in vaults below the ground.
Austin Kiddle, a Sharps Pixley director, said this niche retail sector has never been so busy. “We’ve had people come in with suitcases looking to buy gold