A CENTURY ago Louis Cope’s fashion emporium was busy dressing wealthy ladies in 1920s North Yorkshire.

Serving the rich and famous is in the blood, with Louis’ great-grandson Alex Goldstein now helping celebrities, sports people and lottery winners.

As a property consultant, Alex helps high-net worth individuals, supporting those particularly wanting ‘off-market’ properties which are not advertised. Alex negotiates on their behalf and secures them luxurious homes across Yorkshire and some of the most desired locations in London.

His family’s entrepreneurial success stretches back to wartime.

Louis Cope moved from Poland to Harrogate, attracted by the purer air which helped calm his asthma. In 1914, five years before the first Bettys Tearoom was established, he started his career as an art jeweller.

By 1922 his store, a stunning Victorian building opposite the Turkish Baths, occupied numbers 52 to 58 on the corner of Parliament Street and King’s Road, as a fashion emporium selling haute couture such as boots, fur coats, hats and bags to wealthy tourists and locals. It was famous for having one pane of curved glass, wrapped around the main façade, and operated under royal patronage.

Prominent local women would send their maids to have mink repaired or pearl necklaces restored at his shop and ladies’ servants from around the country would contact him asking for fashionable items their employers could wear.

By the mid-1920s, Louis had received a request to dress Queen Mary, whose daughter, Princess Mary was Countess of Harewood, as featured in the recent Downton Abbey film.

Born in Poland and named Ulik Beidenkopf, Louis later changed his surname to Bidencope and ultimately to Louis Cope. He was naturalised in Harrogate in 1926, married Sarah and they lived on Duchy Road where they raised three children.

The family witnessed a boom in Yorkshire as Londoners flocked to the spa town of Harrogate for the clean air. His business benefitted and fashion shows became a regular society event at the store with 10 or 12 models wearing Louis’ designs and around 1,000 distinguished figures attending each show.

As he rose in prominence, Louis came into the possession of a fine gem, dubbed the ‘Tenant diamond’. Valued at £10,000, it was reported in the local newspaper at the time to be ‘bigger and better than any in the British crown’. He became a local philanthropist and great supporter of several charities and good causes.

Around the same time business was booming for Louis Cope, Ellis & Goldstein was a renowned fashion house in London, where Sam Goldstein mass-produced fashion for the high street. Goldstein’s business became one of the leading suppliers of womenswear in London’s East End and the first to make ready-made dresses (rather than bespoke tailored clothing) for the average height lady which at the time was 5ft 2.

The family had links to Leeds and Louis Cope’s daughter Freda was introduced to Sam Goldstein’s son William. The two fell in love and when they married, joined the two families and fashion powerhouses together.

Like his great-grandfather, Alex is seeing more clients heading to Yorkshire. As reported last month, the numbers of people moving north from London has risen from one per cent in 2009 to 13 per cent in 2019. With the move of companies like Channel 4 to Leeds, Alex has been helping them relocate to desirable areas.

Alex said: “I’d love my family’s entrepreneurial achievements to be celebrated. It’s a wonderful story about how my great-grandfather came to this country as an immigrant and sought a new life and better health for himself and his family.

“He was a true entrepreneur and innovator. After the war, he regularly visited Paris fashion catwalks and took a small pair of scissors to cut off samples of the dresses to bring back to Harrogate. He was so well known for doing so, one day, the head of a Paris fashion house called him into the office and gave him a book of samples to stop him doing it!

“It’s a lesson to us all about how to triumph when the odds are stacked against us. I’m so very proud of my heritage and I named my son after my late grandfather William Goldstein in honour of his memory.”

The shop was sold in the late 1970s but some of the clothes can still be viewed in the Mercer Museum in Harrogate.

Alex writes a regular blog offering property expertise on his website www.alexgoldstein.co.uk