Granny Takes a Trip was a boutique opened in February 1966 at 488 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, by Nigel Waymouth, his girlfriend Sheila Cohen and John Pearse.[1] The shop, which was acquired by Freddie Hornik in 1969, remained open until the mid-1970s and has been called the "first psychedelic boutique in Groovy London of the 1960s".[2]
It was also the name of a Purple Gang song of the 1960s, which was named after the store and banned by the BBC.[3]
The name has been appropriated by clothing stores around the world that are not connected with the original Granny Takes a Trip, including present-day vintage fashion stores in Hermosa Beach, California, Sunset Boulevard and Sydney, Australia.
Opening
The boutique was the brainchild of two young Londoners, Nigel Waymouth and Sheila Cohen, who were looking for an outlet for Cohen's ever-increasing collection of antique clothes.