About Us

T SNOOK of Bridport was founded in 1896, when Tom Snook began his career as an apprentice tailor. He soon opened his first shop at 18 West Street, running it as a gentlemen’s outfitters – incorporating hats, naturally, as in those days everybody wore one!

Tom and his wife, Ethel, went on to have two sons, with the elder, Tom Jr, taking over the shop in 1946.

During WWII the premises at 18 West Street sustained bomb damage, so, with the building increasingly difficult to maintain, Tom Jr eventually decided to relocate. In 1964 he bought a property just down the road at 30-32 West Street, and moved the shop itself into No.32.

Meanwhile, the second son, John, became a teacher and in 1956 his career took him, along with his wife Olive and their own two boys, to Southern Africa.

While Tom Jr’s nephews were regular visitors from Swaziland (now Eswatini) back to Bridport throughout their youth, it was the younger of the brothers, Roger, who (though an engineer by profession) developed a fascination for hats. When, in 1987, ‘Uncle Tommy’ wanted to retire, Roger and his wife, Monica, took over the shop and soon began to steer it further towards headwear.

In 2008 they took back the previously leased-out ground floor of No.30 and turned it into the ‘ladies department‘, stocking decorative hats and fascinators for race meetings, garden parties, and (of course) weddings.

[As a side project, in 2010 Roger and Monica, with the help of a volunteer committee, staged the first Bridport Hat Festival, which was an unexpectedly huge success. Eight years later they handed the now-annual event fully over to the committee to carry forward, having raised both the profile of hats and many thousands of pounds for head-related charities.]

Today T Snook is renowned far and wide for its vast range of hats for both gentlemen and ladies, exceptional customer service (the friendly and knowledgeable staff are known as the ‘Snookettes’), vintage shop fittings (many brought over from the first premises), and quirky sense of humour. You can even enjoy our ‘mini hat museum‘ with headwear collected from around the world.

A visit to Snooks isn’t just shopping, it’s an experience!