W Sitch & Co

This strangely old-fashioned shop has been trading in this Soho townhouse for more than 100 years. Managed by Ronald Sitch and his sons James and Laurence, its business is the reproduction and restoration of antique lights, though there are also fittings for sale. The company’s own range of wall lights and lanterns are made using traditional methods. This may be a small-scale operation, but its prestige and skill are far-reaching – W Sitch supplied the light fittings for the film Titanic and it also looks after the wall brackets that grace the state dining room at No.10. For the rest of us, W Sitch will repair, rewire and repolish most period lighting or convert a favourite vase into a lamp.