DR MARTENS BREWER STREET IS THE BRAND’S MOST AMBITIOUS IDEA OF COMMUNITY SO FAR
The new Dr Martens concept store on Brewer Street brings together product, craft and cultural activity in a way that reflects how the brand wants to work with its community today. Brewer Street itself has been a long standing backdrop for different subcultures mixing across Soho. Night workers, musicians, club communities, record hunters and independent retailers have all circulated through this area for decades. Opening the new store here places Dr Martens inside a street with a real history of creative overlap.
Calling it a beacon store is a straightforward way to describe what Dr Martens is doing. The store gathers product lines, collaborators, services and cultural partners that would normally appear across several locations or projects. Placing them in one environment gives the Dr Martens community a single place to interact with the brand in a more complete way. The aim is not to build a theatrical flagship but to offer a location where activity, craft and social space support the footwear itself.
ASSEMBLY WAS THE DESIGN INSPIRATION
Assembly was the design inspiration for the ground floor. The central area is built from wood reclaimed from pubs, gig venues and school halls. Dr Martens boots have been worn heavily in buildings like these, where bands rehearse, local nights run on small budgets and community groups hold their gatherings. Using these materials is a direct decision. They are familiar to anyone who grew up around British subcultures or spent time in working venues and municipal spaces.
The room is shaped for activity rather than display. Drawing sessions, small talks and community events can take place without having to reorganise the space each time. The design team referenced town halls and gig venues as the structural model. Those buildings were practical, durable and easy to repurpose for different moments. The Brewer Street store aims for the same flexibility. It is intended to function as a hub that people can use for more than product browsing.
THE SHED ROOTS THE STORE IN THE BRAND’S FIRST CHAPTER
The first Dr Martens boots were prototyped in a small shed behind the founders’ workspace. Early leather pieces were cut and reworked there with basic tools. Soles were tested. Stitching was adjusted. It was a practical and modest room, but it played a central role in shaping the earliest versions of the boot. That shed is part of the brand’s foundation, and referencing it inside Brewer Street ties the store back to its beginnings.
In the new store, the Shed appears as a rotating residency space. It is not a reconstruction of the original building but a functional nod to the idea of a working environment rather than a display. Second Best opens the programme. Their hand painted boots, reversed brims and irregular proportions fit the store’s interest in alternative craft. Their contrarian approach and willingness to keep things slightly unpolished align with how many long term Dr Martens wearers have approached their clothes and footwear. Visitors can watch them work inside the space, seeing a version of the same hands on experimentation that shaped the brand’s earliest years.
AN ARCHIVE INSTALLATION WILL BE PRESENTED IN THE STORE
Dr Martens will present an archive installation in the store, with additional pieces arriving next week and more information to follow once the full set is in place. The plan is for the installation to develop over time. This reflects how many people first encountered Dr Martens through lived environments, subcultural groups and personal history rather than through formal brand communication. The archive will function as a record of those different eras and keep expanding as the store continues its programme.
DOCTOR’S ORDERS RETURNS WITH A DIFFERENT CONTEXT
In the nineties, Dr Martens operated a café called Doctor’s Orders inside their Covent Garden rooftop store. It served simple food and acted as a meeting point for people moving between gigs, shops and work. It shared qualities with the classic greasy spoon cafés that have quietly supported British youth culture for generations. These cafés provided affordable food, a place to sit for extended periods and a neutral ground for groups who were not always welcome in more formal spaces.
The new Brewer Street store revives the Doctor’s Orders name as a nod to that earlier moment. The café follows the same straightforward spirit and collaborates with Dusty Knuckle and Luminary Bakery. It is designed to be used rather than passed through. Visitors can stay between workshops, watch programming from the upstairs area or meet friends before events. The café gives the store another layer of practical space that fits with the communities the brand has connected with over time.
A PROGRAMME BUILT AROUND REAL PEOPLE
Programming forms a major part of the store’s structure. Paperweight Club run drawing sessions in the central assembly area. Their sessions sit comfortably inside an environment built from materials once used in the types of rooms where small creative groups have always gathered. Dash The Henge, a South London record collective, curate the store’s music direction and shaped the launch programming. Their background in independent nightlife and community music spaces ties the store into the cultures that have long supported Dr Martens wearers.
Spoken word artist John Joseph Holt contributes a poem that appears physically inside the store. He performed it during the preview event, and the performance set the tone for what Dr Martens want to achieve here. It brought together different parts of the store’s identity at once: the café, the craft, the people and the space itself. Holt’s poem is also being screen printed onto apparel during the opening period, turning it into part of the workshop activity instead of leaving it only as a visual element.
Repair, customisation and printing reflect a long standing part of Dr Martens culture. People who wear Dr Martens year after year, including punks, mods and casuals, often repair their pairs or have them repaired to keep them going. Resoling, restitching and adjusting boots has been a practical tradition rather than a stylistic choice. Bringing these activities into the store acknowledges that history directly. It gives visitors access to the kinds of services that have kept the brand relevant through communities rather than through seasonal marketing.
During the preview talk, the team also mentioned a forthcoming collaboration with Kiko. They noted that he wore Dr Martens during his Central Saint Martins runway show and again in his most recent collection. Brewer Street will act as a place to activate that connection once the collaboration is ready to surface.
THE MADE IN ENGLAND SPACE FOCUSES ON CRAFT
The store includes a dedicated Made in England space that highlights footwear produced in the original Wollaston factory. These models are the most craft intensive in the Dr Martens lineup. They are made in smaller numbers, using traditional construction methods and higher grade leathers. Many go through more hands on finishing processes than the wider range. Giving them their own area inside the store places clear emphasis on the craftsmanship that has anchored the brand since its first years. It separates them from the rest of the product offering and allows visitors to see how they operate within the larger Dr Martens lineup.
THE ICONS WALL ANCHORS THE STORE
The Icons Wall presents the four core silhouettes. The 1460 boot, the 1461 shoe, the 2976 Chelsea boot and the Adrian loafer. Displayed on a clean white background, the wall anchors the store in the shapes the company was built on. It creates a direct link between the new activities happening within the store and the foundational products that continue to hold the brand together.
BREWER STREET SHOWS HOW RETAIL CAN OPERATE DIFFERENTLY
Brewer Street integrates creativity, repair and community activity as central parts of the layout. The store is structured so that workshops, music, café space and the archive installation feel like natural components rather than added layers. This approach reflects the way Dr Martens became part of culture. The brand’s significance developed because people wore the boots inside scenes that shaped their history and relevance. Brewer Street gives that relationship a defined and functional place within a contemporary retail environment.
Visit the new Dr Martens store at 39 Brewer Street, London W1F 9UD