Bury St Edmunds · and Sudbury · Mon to Sat 09:30 to 17:30 · Sun 11:00 to 16:00
01284 754559 · 37 Abbeygate Street, IP33 1LW
Javelin Bury St Edmunds · since 1989 Plan your visit
Departments Awards Since 1989 Denim Visit Plan your visit
37 Abbeygate Street · Bury St Edmunds · since 1989

Three departments, thirty-six years, one Abbeygate Street row.

Javelin has traded from 37 Abbeygate Street since December 1989, when Jeremy Clayton brought his family's Bury retail line down from The Traverse and Olympic javelin medallist Fatima Whitbread cut the ribbon. Thirty-six years later the shop runs three departments across 3,500 sq ft of timber-framed 16th-century building: menswear (with one of the largest curated denim walls outside London), womenswear (the floor that took Drapers Womenswear Retailer of the Year), and footwear sized to the season.

See the three departments  → Call 01284 754559
1989 Est. Bury Thirty-six years on Abbeygate Street.
3,500 Sq ft floor Across 37 and 38 Abbeygate Street.
4 Named awards Drapers, Pure London, Grazia.
7 / 7 Days open Sundays 11:00 to 16:00.
Est. 1989 Javelin Of Bury St Edmunds · and Sudbury
37 Abbeygate Street · IP33 1LW Open seven days
Departments · four floors of buying

Four departments, picked by buyers who have been on these floors for ten years and more.

Menswear and the denim wall on the ground floor of number 37. Womenswear and the accessories floor through into number 38. Footwear in between, sized to the season the shop has been selling since 1989. Personal styling on appointment, no fee, no minimum spend.

01 · Menswear

One of the largest collections of denim brands outside London.

The menswear floor was the original Javelin proposition in 1989 and it is still the one that brings customers from Cambridge, Norwich and Ipswich. A curated denim wall covering raw selvedge, washed indigo, distressed, black, off-white and Japanese 21oz weights. Sizes run 28 to 40 waist, leg lengths from 30 to 36, hemmed in-house to the half-inch. Shirts, knitwear, outerwear and tailoring sit alongside the denim, picked by department buyers who have been on this floor for ten years and more.

02 · Womenswear

Drapers Womenswear Retailer of the Year.

The award the shop wears most easily. The womenswear floor at 37 Abbeygate carries a season-led selection across day, evening and tailoring, refreshed every six weeks. The Drapers national trophy and the Pure London Best Independent (Anglia) prize both came from this floor. Sizes 6 to 18 across most pieces, occasional capsule extensions to 20 and 22. Personal styling on appointment, no fee, no minimum spend.

03 · Footwear

The third department, sized to the season.

Boots in October, leather lace-ups in spring, sandals from May. The footwear floor sits between menswear and womenswear at the flagship and is fitted to the seasons the shop has been selling for thirty-six years. Sizes 36 to 47, brands chosen for craft rather than label volume, in-house assessment of fit before any purchase leaves the shop.

04 · Accessories and gifts

The treasure trove the BID directory talks about.

Belts, scarves, hats, jewellery, leather goods, candles, fragrance. The corner the Bury BID directory calls "a treasure trove" sitting alongside the womenswear floor. The easy gift for a partner or a parent of a regular customer, the practical sale on a half-hour lunch break, the entry point for a first-time visitor. Gift-wrapped in-store at no charge.

Awards · on the public record

Drapers, Pure London, Grazia. Four named prizes, on record at the trade press.

The recognition that pulls a Cambridge or Norwich customer toward Bury rather than to the Grafton Centre or a Norwich Lanes independent. National (Drapers), regional (Pure London Anglia), category (Drapers Best Young Fashion Independent 2012), and consumer-facing (Grazia 60 Best Local Shops, April 2021).

NATIONAL

Drapers Womenswear Retailer of the Year

The trade's headline national prize for an independent womenswear floor. Earned across the run that produced repeat Drapers recognition through the 2010s.

ANGLIA

Best Independent Retailer at Pure London

Pure London is the UK's biggest fashion trade show. The Anglia regional Best Independent went to Javelin against the East of England field.

2012

Best Young Fashion Independent

Drapers Independents Awards. The "young" designation was for the under-40s buyer programme on the womenswear floor; the prize confirmed the shop's direction across the decade that followed.

2021

Grazia 60 Best Local Shops

Grazia readers' Save Our Shops campaign, published April 2021 ahead of the 12 April retail reopening. The line: "the husband-and-wife team behind Javelin have made it a high street fixture for three decades in Suffolk".

Thirty-six years on Abbeygate Street

Founded by Jeremy and Joanna Clayton. In Oliver Tookman's hands since September 2023.

Jeremy Clayton was the third generation of a Bury retail family when he closed his grandfather's Clayton Sports on The Traverse in 1989 and opened Javelin six times larger at 37 Abbeygate Street. Olympic javelin medallist Fatima Whitbread cut the ribbon that December. Over the next 34 years he and Joanna built Javelin into a multi-award-winning independent of national standing. In September 2023 they handed the keys to Oliver Tookman, who already ran Robert Goddard, the 1895 Wisbech outfitter. The name stays above the door. The team stays in place. The Sudbury second site, opened 1998, stays open.

The name remains above the door, and long may it do so. The existing team continue to work here, and effectively we will simply build on what Javelin has already achieved.

Oliver Tookman · owner, Javelin · Velvet Magazine, October 2023

1953 Robert H Clayton opens Clayton Sports at 4a The Traverse, Bury St Edmunds, selling traditional sportswear, fishing tackle and guns. The family retail line begins.
1986 Jeremy Clayton, third generation of the family, joins Clayton Sports and starts expanding the skiwear range.
1989 Clayton Sports closes on The Traverse and reopens as Javelin at 37 Abbeygate Street, six times larger. Olympic javelin medallist Fatima Whitbread cuts the ribbon in December. Sportswear, footwear and ski are the original three departments.
1998 Javelin Sudbury opens, the second site that still trades today.
2008 Javelin Bury St Edmunds expands to take in 38 Abbeygate Street alongside number 37, bringing the flagship to 3,500 sq ft across three named departments: menswear, womenswear and footwear.
2012 Drapers Best Young Fashion Independent. The under-40s buyer programme on the womenswear floor is recognised.
2021 Grazia names Javelin one of the 60 Best Local Shops in the UK, readers' Save Our Shops campaign, April reopening week.
2023 Jeremy and Joanna Clayton hand the keys to Oliver Tookman of Robert Goddard in September. The name stays above the door, the team stays in place. Tookman: "service on the High Street is dead, and that is where we step in".
Today Seven days a week on Abbeygate Street. Three departments, four named awards on the wall, the same in-store alterations bench, the denim wall still doing the work it has done for thirty-six years.
Specialism · the denim wall

One of the largest collections of denim brands outside London.

The menswear floor at 37 Abbeygate Street has carried the shop's denim reputation since the 1990s. The Bury BID directory and the Suffolk tourism board both surface it as the headline line of the flagship. The wall is curated rather than stocked deep on a single brand: raw selvedge for the customer breaking in their first pair, washed indigo for everyday wear, off-white and black for the next layer, and Japanese 21oz for the customer who already knows what selvedge means. Sizes 28 to 40 waist, leg lengths 30 to 36. Every pair is tried on with the customer's preferred shoe, hemmed in-house to the half-inch, and the dispensing notes are kept so the next pair starts from real numbers.

  • 01 Raw selvedge, washed indigo, distressed, off-white, black, Japanese 21oz weights.
  • 02 Sizes 28 to 40 waist, leg lengths 30 to 36, hemmed in-house to the half-inch.
  • 03 Every pair tried on with the customer's preferred shoe before hemming.
  • 04 Dispensing notes kept so the next pair starts from the same numbers.
Get in touch

Tell us what you are after, we will reply the same day.

We answer email between 09:30 and 17:30, seven days a week. Whether you want to book a personal styling appointment, ask whether we have a particular denim brand in your size, arrange alterations on a piece you already own, or hold something back for a Saturday visit, this form gets you in front of the floor team directly. Phone bookings on 01284 754559 are still the fastest route on a Saturday morning.

What happens next

  1. We read your message within the working day, seven days a week.
  2. We propose two or three slots, or confirm stock, or hold the piece back.
  3. We confirm by email, send a calendar invite if needed, and the floor is yours.

Thank you. We have your details and will reply from enquiries@javelinonline.co.uk within the working day, seven days a week.

Visit

37 Abbeygate Street, Bury St Edmunds.

A straight walk down Abbeygate Street from the Buttermarket, with the Abbey Gate at the far end as the visual anchor. Five minutes from Cornhill Walk multi-storey, five minutes from Ram Meadow, five to seven from The Arc. The Abbey Gardens, the Cathedral and the Theatre Royal are all five minutes\' walk. We sit in the row that includes Cooks the Bakers and Bailey\'s of Bury, on the timber-framed 16th-century stretch that the Historic England list calls Grade II.

Mon 09:30 · 17:30 Open
Tue 09:30 · 17:30 Open
Wed 09:30 · 17:30 Open
Thu 09:30 · 17:30 Open
Fri 09:30 · 17:30 Open
Sat 09:30 · 17:30 Open · busiest day
Sun 11:00 · 16:00 Open, short hours
37 Abbeygate Street, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP33 1LW · five minutes from Cornhill Walk and Ram Meadow car parks. Open in Google Maps ↗
Frequently asked

The questions Bury St Edmunds customers actually ask.

Mined from thirty-six years of phone calls, the September 2023 ownership coverage, the Suffolk News and Velvet Magazine handover articles, and the Grazia readers' Save Our Shops nominations.

Are you still owned by the Clayton family?

Not since September 2023. Jeremy and Joanna Clayton ran Javelin for 34 years from the 1989 opening, and handed over to Oliver Tookman that autumn. Oliver also runs Robert Goddard, the 1895 Wisbech outfitter, and his stated position has been that the Javelin name stays, the existing team stays, and the shop carries on the way the Claytons left it. The continuity is the point of the transaction.

What denim brands do you actually stock?

The menswear floor at 37 Abbeygate Street has been called "one of the largest collections of denim brands outside London" by the Bury BID directory and the Suffolk tourism board. In practice that means a curated wall covering raw selvedge, washed indigo, distressed, black, off-white and Japanese 21oz weights, with sizes 28 to 40 waist and leg lengths 30 to 36. The current rotation lives on the menswear page; we hem to the half-inch in-house so the leg length on the rack is the starting point, not the limit.

Do you do alterations in store?

Yes. Hemming on denim, trouser shortening and tapering, jacket sleeves taken up or let down where the seam allows, shirt body alterations on most weights. The alterations bench is on the first floor of number 38, the part of the flagship we annexed in 2008. Most jobs turn around within three to five working days; rush work for an occasion is arranged on the day. There is no minimum spend on the garment to qualify.

Are you a chain?

No. Javelin is two stores, Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury, and that has been the footprint since the Sudbury opening in 1998. The new ownership at Robert Goddard operates a separate fashion group; Javelin sits alongside that group but trades under its own name, with its own buyers, its own buying decisions and its own seasonal calendar.

Where do I park?

Abbeygate Street is partly pedestrianised, so the nearest paid car parks are Cornhill Walk (five minutes' walk, multi-storey, signed from the ring road) and Ram Meadow (five minutes' walk, surface, signed from Northgate Street). The Arc Shopping Centre car park is also five to seven minutes depending on which exit you take. The shop is a straight walk down Abbeygate Street from the Buttermarket, with the Abbey Gate at the far end as the visual anchor.

When are the seasonal sales?

The shop has run two main seasonal reductions every year since the 1990s: a January sale that opens in the week after Christmas and runs through to the end of the month, and an end-of-summer sale that opens late July and runs through August. Specific markdown dates go on the shop email list two weeks before each one starts; the list also picks up first refusal on new-arrival capsules in the womenswear floor.