Kinnerton Street in Belgravia, central London, was built as a mews to service grand houses, with stables for horses and poky rooms for servants upstairs. Despite a century of conversion of the low rows into very desirable residences, the street retains some original facades with wooden doors wide enough for carriages, opening to the pavementless road for ease of mucking-out.
In 1994, Maureen Doherty, who has died unexpectedly aged 70, chose one of these, No 36, a former dairy depot, the walls inside lined with blue tiles, for her shop Egg – without a capital letter for design and trading purposes. It looked more like an art gallery – Doherty later opened an actual art gallery along the street – and its clothes were pricey, durable and generously non-body-conscious.
