Community Update: November 2024

If you’re reading this update, you are officially a very important person in our eyes. And we intend to treat you like a VIP every time you come in. That said, sometimes a bona fide VIP (in the classic sense of the word, you understand) does wander into Jones And Co. and it definitely makes everyone’s heart go a-flutter.

We had a real corker of a celebrity encounter a couple of weeks ago. It was a Thursday afternoon, much like any other Thursday afternoon, when a man walked in with an American accent and spoke to Deepal. He said he and his friend is in town ‘on business’ and ‘his friend’ has broken his reading glasses, and he asked if we could repair them for his friend. And he needed the fix to be snappy because he was off to Paris early next week ‘on business’.

Deepal checked the glasses over and it was a bad break that would need to be sent away to a specialist lab that we use. But we could have them back on Monday. The American gent said Monday would be perfect. He left his address in Manchester as The Stock Exchange Hotel, around the corner from Jones And Co., and he was on his way.

On Saturday morning, the reading glasses arrived back from the lab, fully repaired and good to go. Taylor checked them over and thought she’d surprise our American friend by calling his hotel to let him know they were ready, ahead of schedule. But there was no answer at the hotel, which was strange. Not to be deterred from making a customer’s day, Taylor decided to just walk around to the hotel and leave a message for him.

The problem was she couldn’t get close enough to the hotel to deliver the message. There were throngs of people crowded outside the entrance. They were obviously camped out trying to catch a glimpse of some VIP. Not to worry – with some frantic waving through the window, and repeatedly calling the hotel on her phone, Taylor finally managed to speak to the concierge and pass on the message for their guest.

After the kerfuffle at the hotel, the gears started turning in the minds of the team. Shortly after that, the American ‘businessman’ returned to collect the glasses for his friend. He was pleased. At that point, Gareth sidled up to him and with all his Yorkshire charm said, “So, if you don’t mind me asking, who is your friend?” The man said “Come on, Gareth, you’re a smart guy. Can you not figure it out?” Gareth said, in a high-pitched, squeaky voice, “Bruce Springsteen?!” And the man said, “Yes, sir. That’s him.”

So, there you go. You now officially have the same optician as Bruce Springsteen. Tell your friends. You can dine out on a good story like that. In fact, I did, I took my wife Catherine out for dinner that very night, and the money Bruce Springsteen spent on his glasses repair covered the cost of one starter and a small glass of wine. But the money’s not important here. No, no. What matters is that, in his hour of need, we repaired The Boss’ reading glasses. Without his vision, poor Bruce would have been dancing in the dark. He didn’t come in for an eye test, though. Presumably, he didn’t want to be blinded by the light.