A new fancy dress shop has opened in Castletown with costumes for hire ranging from Daleks and superheroes to – for the truly uninhibited – fat suits.
Called Mr Benn’s Changing Rooms, the name of the business draws on the popular 1970s TV series Mr Benn, in which ‘as if by magic’ the bowler-hatted Mr Benn would enter strange and exotic worlds through the changing room of a fancy dress shop.
The man behind Castletown’s Mr Benn’s is Bernard Bateson.
He said: ‘Everyone calls me Mr B. I was going to call it “Mr B’s” but there is a pie shop round the corner called that. Someone else said, why not call it “Mr Benn’s”? So it’s Mr Benn’s changing rooms!’
Opening the shop fulfils a long-held ambition of Bernard’s.
Th opportunity presented itself while he was preparing to leave his job at government and he overheard a conversation about disposing of the fancy dress stock of the House of Fun in Ramsey, which was closing.
Bernard explained: ‘I said, “I will buy the costumes”. The shop in Castletown was up for rent and it was quite reasonable so I decided to take it on and see how we go.’
The 60-year-old has had a varied career and has worked as an undertaker, a joiner, a driver and, latterly, at Abbotswood nursing home before joining the government.
Having negotiated more than 1,500 costumes for adults into the shop’s store room, he has also introduced a range of 150 costumes for children. The children’s costumes can be hired and bought, while adult costumes are for hire only.
Mr Benn’s will also supply party goods such as banners and helium balloons. ‘We do the full package,’ he said.
The shop has certainly injected some life into Castletown’s grey winter streets, and he said: ‘The commissioners are very pleased to see something that has brought a bit of life to the street, it’s a colourful shop.’
It’s also influencing its customers’ lives, he said: ‘In Mr Benn [the TV series] there was a magic changing room at the back of the shop – it’s like that, you can come in here and go out who you want to be. People come in here a bit miserable and they come out with a smile on their face. I’m in my little world and I love it.’
The shop is open from 10.30am to 5pm each Friday and Saturday. For information, call 205454, 827637 or email batesonbernard@gmail.com.