Jake’s is the cult east London store that everyone in fashion is talking about

Shopkeeping runs in Jake Burt’s blood. The designer and other half of Stefan Cooke – the pair are partners in life and work – grew up working at his parents' market stalls on England's south-east coast. When Cooke was granted a scholarship for the Central Saint Martins MA course but Burt wasn’t, it was completely natural for the designer, alongside his mum and brother, to transform a vacant seafront café in Lyme Regis, Dorset, working flat out for an entire summer so that Burt wouldn’t have to take out a loan. Having his own store had always been a distant dream, until last autumn, when an empty space on the ground floor of the brand’s new studio building in Old Street presented an opportunity to finally do so. ‘It felt like now or never,’ Burt says over the phone. ‘I just went for it.’

Jake’s does not operate like any ordinary store. An addition to a busy creative life, the faceless gallery-style space is only open on an ad hoc basis – ‘some Saturdays’ – and publicised quietly via the designer’s personal Instagram. Its stock is equally particular, mixing one-offs made weekly by Burt and Cooke, archive Stefan Cooke samples, and unofficial projects by their talented circle of friends. Despite keeping things as low key as humanly possible, Jake’s has become the industry insider’s new favourite store. When it’s open, you’ll find a mix of photographers, stylists and students in the space, drinking free coffee and eating pastries supplied by Louis Thompson, a Stefan Cooke model-turned-baker. ‘He just turns up with whatever he's felt like making,’ says Burt. ‘They are probably the best pastries I've ever tasted in my life, and they are sold at my little shop.’ Opened for the pure love of doing it, Jake’s works so well because it's not simply a store – it's personal.

‘My little shop’: Inside cult east London store Jake’s

A few threads of inspiration have led Burt here. As a teenager he keenly read up on Tracey Emin and Sarah Lucas' 1993 project The Shop, where the two YBAs spent six months making art and throwing raucous parties in a space nestled between curry houses on London's Brick Lane. At CSM, he remembers a tutor flinging him a book on Comme des Garçons’ pre-Dover Street Market guerrilla stores, which opened in marginal cities under a set of rules, such as a $1,000 cap on the store fit-out. But it was a trip to Japan last year that was the tipping point. As an avid collector of vintage fashion and decorative brick-o-brack – he finds figurines of ‘weird little people’ in every city he visits – Tokyo was a niche retail awakening. One mysterious door in Koenji has lingered in his memory. ‘There was just a pebble on a string and an arrow for a doorknob. I slid the door open, and there was this great concept store inside. That stuck with me after I came back.’

Tucked away down a nondescript lane behind Old Street, Jake’s has a bit of that same ‘seek and you shall find’ magic. It's the curation of pieces inside, though, that’s the special part. In this place where passion projects are given space to live, there are studded bags by Sally Kite, a consultant designer whom a friend discovered by chance at an art opening; Cooke’s bedroom project Faimann, which turns vintage hankies into beautiful leather clip accessories; and handmade ribbon cards by their ex-assistant Nina Gruninger, who developed the bow pieces for Stefan Cooke’s S/S 2023 collection. ‘She’s one of our best friends now,’ says Burt. ‘Once she made someone a card with this vintage ribbon. I was like, “You have to turn that into a brand.” They sell out so quickly. This really cool girl came in one day and was just like, “I want everything left of Nina's.” She had them all framed and put on her wall at home.’

Running everything over WhatsApp and making pieces informed by what’s sold the week before, there’s a DIY immediacy to Jake’s that allows Burt the freedom to explore ideas that aren’t quite right for Stefan Cooke. He’s used it as a chance to clear out his own wardrobe, selling reworked Aphex Twin and ‘churchy’ T-shirts that he stopped wearing. ‘I’m in my early thirties now, and I feel a need to dress my age,’ he jokes. But his bestselling items are beautiful, one-of-a-kind MA1 bomber jackets made from sun-faded horse blankets and vintage rugby knits from the couple’s personal archive. ‘Steph and I were walking Ralph [their dog] in the countryside and we spotted horses in a field wearing these amazing little rugs,’ he says. ‘I started buying all the ones that are too battered for them to wear anymore. I cut them, rework them and have them dry-cleaned – they really smell like horses. It’s crazy, people walk in when we open at 11 and buy them. That’s been amazing.’

For London Fashion Week A/W 2025, rather than the fanfare of a traditional runway, Burt and Cooke decided to show their new collection with an intimate gathering at Jakes. A ‘very large’ cake by Louis Thompson provided a centrepiece in the room, around which friends of the brand drank beers and tried on pieces from the collection, which traced a ‘map of England in fabrics’. Worked into Stefan Cooke’s cult silhouettes, modish tweeds, wools, and hard cottons appeared in vintage military cuts and British subcultural shapes, while unexpected details came through the pair’s love of negative space – such as jeans patched with biscuit cutter leather, jumpers slashed at the elbow, and trompe-l'œil scarf prints on whip-tight trousers. Touched, passed around, and talked about in the room as Ralph, the dog, ran circles around people’s feet, it was a celebration of the pair’s shared universe and the special energy of Jake’s.

While events like these and Jake’s Saturdays have allowed Burt and Cooke to connect with their community, Burt would like the store to be something more. He has plans to open ephemeral spots – the word ‘pop-up’ makes him cringe – in Tokyo and New York, but the big dream is to have a permanent space in London. ‘I love Leather Lane,’ he says. ‘It’s mentioned in Oliver Twist, which I recently read. Dickens is so specific about street names. There's an amazing scene with Fagin where he's going up Leather Lane. I’d love it to be there.’ For now, though, he’s happy to have somewhere to come together with people, celebrate his friend’s work and sell his creations. ‘That's my favourite bit,’ says Burt. ‘Selling out feels so good.’

Follow @jakewkburt for the latest on Jake’s opening times.

Jake’s, 25 Corsham Street, London, N1 6DR.