Austen & Blake

8 Greville St, EC1N 8SB · 02076601568

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Austen & Blake was founded in 2012 by a family with four generations in the trade, who began by making jewellery for other retailers before selling under their own name. The first store opened in Manchester in 2018 and there are now 16 UK showrooms, of which Greville Street is the London one.

That matters for setting expectations. This is a retail chain that happens to have an address in Hatton Garden, rather than a Hatton Garden workshop that grew. The model is a configurator: choose a diamond, choose a setting, and it is made to order in their own workshop. The pitch is explicitly value-led, with less waste and a fair price rather than craft heritage.

The practically useful thing about them is the diary. They trade seven days a week including Sunday, which most of Hatton Garden does not. If Sunday is the only day you and your partner can both go, that narrows the field sharply, though Heera also opens on Sundays if you want to compare two on one trip. They ask you to request an appointment rather than advertising walk-ins, and they offer virtual appointments too.

The process is deliberately simple: select a diamond from their inventory, select a setting, and every piece is then made to order in their workshop rather than pulled from stock. Both natural and lab-grown are available on any ring. In-store guidance comes from staff they call Jewellery Experts, and the same configurator is available online.

Appointments are requested rather than walk-ins offered, so book ahead. Hours are Monday to Saturday 10am to 6pm and Sunday 11am to 5pm, which is broader than anyone else in the quarter and includes the Sunday everyone else closes for. Virtual appointments are available if you would rather start remotely.

There is a manufacturer warranty and 30-day returns. They do not publish production timescales, which given that everything is made to order is the single most useful thing they could add. Ask for a date in writing.

This suits someone whose availability is the constraint. If you both work weekdays and Saturday is difficult, Sunday opening puts this on a very short list, and 128 reviewers describing genuinely helpful staff suggests the visit is worth having.

It also suits a buyer who wants lab-grown and natural presented as equal options, and who values a national chain with a warranty behind it over a one-person studio.

Approach with more care if your timeline is tight or your budget is at full stretch. The recurring complaints are about dates slipping and money being hard to get back, so get the delivery date in writing before you pay, and read the returns terms properly given everything is made to order.