Nobody calls it James J. Fox, though — it’s JJ Fox. Before 1992, however, it was Robert Lewis. The history of JJ Fox takes in two businesses: Lewis, the original shop, and James J Fox, which bought the place out in 1992. The Fox family is no newcomer: their business has been going since it was founded in Dublin in 1881, first opening in London on Old Bond Street in 1947, before taking over the cigar departments in Selfridges and Harrods. This growth was driven by Freddie Fox, who came to head the firm under the shadow of tragedy: in 1926, his brother Stanley was murdered by thieves suspected of having IRA ties. In 1942, his other brother Ronald went missing while on an RAF mission. Freddie’s successes and the network of contacts he’d fostered meant that by 1992, two years after he died, his family name meant more to cigar smokers than the Lewis one. And so the name was changed.
JJ Fox is not just a tobacconist, but a vital part of London history
