Elton, Jagger, Sinatra: raconteur’s luxury shop was the destination for the stars
Tony Yeldham
1938-2025
Tony Yeldham in his Double Bay shop in 1998.Credit: Patrick Cummins
Even before he opened his Double Bay boutique The Squire Shop in 1956 and introduced generations of Sydney men to the sartorial splendours of Liberty print shirts, Panama hats, Gucci, Versace and Armani, Tony Yeldham’s entrepreneurial spirit was already making a mark.
In the early 1950s, when Yeldham’s mother, Helene, would visit her seamstress, her teenage son tagged along. As bolts of fabric were purchased and cut to size, the industrious youngster collected the colourful offcuts and hired the mothers of friends he met in Sydney’s bohemian jazz clubs, many of them recently arrived European immigrants and sons of expert dressmakers, to craft men’s ties.
Yeldham’s ties were a hit and were soon stocked in department stores and menswear stores across the city. They heralded the beginning of one of Australian fashion retailing’s most enduring chapters stretching across seven decades. On August 10, following months of declining health, Anthony John Yeldham, 87, died.
Yeldham with former AJC chairman Bob Charley.
For decades, The Squire Shop became a social institution in Sydney, a destination for the city’s legal fraternity, politicians, business identities and celebrities. Men would descend on the Double Bay shop to swap stories, purchase “rare” imported European labels and get measured for a new suit by the in-store tailor.
During his many tours, a young Elton John became a regular, with a particular penchant for Yeldham’s range of Versace shirts. Yeldham fitted artist Brett Whitely in white linen suits while another artist, Martin Sharp, became more than just a customer, often designing The Squire Shop’s window displays.
Frank Sinatra bought dozens of brightly coloured cashmere sweaters when he visited in 1961, while cricketer Viv Richards and rocker Mick Jagger popped in during their respective tours to buy silk shirts.
Many of Yeldham’s customers were from the racing world. Former Australian Jockey Club chairman Bob Charley said Yeldham, a keen punter, “had three qualities: charm, wit and style. He used all three in his business, he was a decade ahead of the other menswear stores and became a great friend to many along the way”.
Sydney’s most notorious punter, George “Hollywood” Edser, a dashing figure from Randwick to Rosehill, would regularly visit for his trademark linen suits, though his featured a customised detail: a second pant seam for Edser to discreetly stash cash from the track.
[Edser’s] trademark linen suits ... featured a customised detail: a second pant seam for Edser to discreetly stash cash from the track.
“Over the last year-and-a-half, Dad battled a terminal heart condition, yet he continued to walk to work and each day open the shop,” film producer daughter Rebecca Yeldham said.
“It was almost as if he believed if he could just get there and do a little business, then he would beat the odds and stay alive. He continued to trade until the last four weeks of his life.
“The shop was his north star and happy place. No matter how terrible he felt, when a customer entered the door, he’d get a jolt of energy and it would be ‘showtime’.”
Yeldham with his former wife and “his rock” Diana.
Yeldham played a pioneering role in transforming Double Bay into an enclave of chic cafes and boutiques at a time when luxury brands had little interest in a fashion backwater like far-off Australia.
Soon after The Squire Shop arrived, Cafe 21, specialising in coffee, cakes and exotic Hungarian dishes, opened its doors in 1958. By the 1960s, The Cosmopolitan was trading, along with Maria Finlay’s glamorous European women’s fashion boutique. For the next 40 years, Double Bay was the city’s home of chic.
Yeldham was initially backed in the business by a powerful consortium of Sydney identities, which included Clyde Packer, son of Frank Packer and later general manager of Channel Nine (owner of this masthead).
A natural salesman and raconteur, Yeldham worked 364 days a year. His final business diary is scrawled with his trademark inspirational quotes: “Never Give Up!“, “Give it a Crack!”, “Get Around it!” and “Winners Never Quit, Quitters Never Win!”
“For him the shop was more than just business – it was integral to his identity, a place where he would greet old friends and make new ones, entertain and be entertained,” Yeldham said, adding her father’s other great passion was his family, comprising her siblings gallerist Ali Yeldham, prominent artist Joshua Yeldham and marketing consultant Savannah Yeldham.
“He loved us equally and was close to us all, and though he and Mum [Sydney art identity Di Yeldham] parted in the ’80s, he called her ‘his rock’ and they remained very close until the end, as he did with Sav’s mother, Yvonne Studdert. We remain one big family. Dad could never understand why some families would make ‘a fuss’ after a divorce and not just get along.”
Having endured two bouts of cancer, a quadruple bypass, hip and back surgery, and more recently, the crippling heart disease amyloidosis, Yeldham outlived his doctor’s grim expectations by more than a year.
The son of criminal barrister John Yeldham and part of a prominent Sydney legal family – his cousin was the Supreme Court judge, the late David Yeldham – Tony at one point seemed destined for a career in professional cricket, playing for the NSW representative team before suffering a series of injuries.
Against his father’s wishes, Yeldham eschewed the family tradition of university and a law career, diving passionately into retail and learning the ropes at Woolworths before launching his own business.
Yeldham in his Double Bay store in 1991.Credit: SAGE
In 1976, a 35-year-old Yeldham told the Herald about The Squire Shop and Sydney men’s growing interest in fashion: “Our business is phenomenal, quite freakish for a one-location store. We’re probably doing the second biggest turnover in Australia.”
At the time, his store sold $1.75 T-shirts and $280 Jean Muir dresses.
Inspired by then wife Diana, Yeldham expanded The Squire Shop into international womenswear, branching out with a sister boutique in his wife’s hometown of Melbourne. The business began to downsize in the 1990s, returning to its roots in menswear and one location.
“For someone who traded in luxury goods, he had no attachment to material things,” Rebecca said. “He lived a humble, simple life. He lived in the present, loved life, and loved the people who came in and out of it unconditionally.
“He had friends and customers from all walks of life and he treated them equally irrespective of their profession, their means or their histories. So long as you could tell a good story, give things a crack, show up and embrace life, he was with you.”
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