Today a haute couture designer visits the shop with a puncture. We start chatting and she expresses her wish of being able to wear more fashionable clothing when cycling. Indeed with her red mountaneering coat, helmet and touring panniers, she meshes well with London’s “Wimpey” cycling masses: maybe practical but not likely to impress the Browns buyers.

Then she explains: she rides all the way from Richmond, about 20km to Mayfair. On a drizzly day like today, there is a better way: leave the anorak home and select a well tailored raincoat, preferably red; put your belongings in a Basil Mirte shopper-pannier (£35); unfold your cornflower/blue Brompton M2L (from £590); cycle to the station and catch the train to Waterloo. From there you can visit all your clients without getting soaked. And if you do want to wear a helmet, select one from Sawako Furuno’s range (see below; in stock now at £60)

Top image by William Forester