The People

Jo Free
Sales Associate – Gift Room “I live and breathe Liberty; I can’t get away from it. I live very near to where the Liberty family still live and know them very well. My little cottage used to be part of the Liberty estate. Even the church that is close to me is where Arthur Lasenby is buried and it’s got the same carving as the interior of the store.

I work in the Gift Room. It has a wide range of goods ranging from little notebooks to Moorcroft pots which retail at £3,000-£4,000. I like the varied range of products that we sell, from the small tourist sets to the collector’s pieces such as Moorcroft or the Emma Bridgewater dogs. There is never a typical working day here - with all the different customers that you meet on a daily basis and different products that we sell, its always varied and exciting.

I am a Mentor for the new recruits. I enjoy telling the new staff about Liberty and guiding them on their first couple of months in the company, making them feel welcomed and part of the team.”








Michelle Alger
Buying Manager – Home “Liberty has the most creative team to work with, and I get a real sense of achievement at the end of each day. I believe this comes from being a well loved British institution, where every team member contributes to our success.

My day-to-day role is very varied; this could be from a 4 a.m start to visit an antiques fair, to developing a range of stationery with a manufacturer.

I adore Liberty’s quirky and non corporate attitude, encouraging creativity to think and work 'outside of the box’.”












Louis Matthewman
Events Officer – Press & Marketing “I have very fond memoires of shopping at Liberty as a child. When I moved to London and visited the store as an adult, it struck me what an inspiring, creative brand Liberty is and I instantly wanted to be part of it. When an opening came up for a position on the events team, I jumped at the chance and sent in my CV. Here I am today!

In Press and Marketing there is always a new exciting project, campaign or product launch to work on. It’s this diversity that keeps my role thrilling as well as challenging. I also have a very eclectic taste in fashion and design so having the opportunity to work and organise events for so many incredible brands is a dream come true.

One of my favourite events that I have worked on to date has to be the Alexander Wang Love Magazine and Liberty London Fashion Week party, where Beth Ditto performed. It was a room full of fashionistas and celebrities; I didn’t know where to look! The other event which we hold each year is our Best of British design open call. Designers queue outside from 6 a.m to meet our buying team in the hope that their products will eventually be sold in store. The atmosphere in the waiting room is electrifying as each and every person is so passionate and excited about meeting the buying team.”




Martin Colquhoun
Head of Home “I have been with Liberty for nearly 3 years and this is my second time at Liberty. I was first employed back in 2003 and was also based in the Home department, then went back to New Zealand, but I guess I couldn’t keep away!

I love my role within this amazing, unique store, which involves leading and driving my team to maximize sales, meeting department and company targets to achieve the Liberty vision, and providing outstanding luxury service and a quality shopping experience for our customers.

Liberty is a fantastic company to work for; your ideas, views and opinions are always considered and shared.”










William Taylor
Sales Consultant - Menswear “I’m a Menswear Sales Consultant for the collection range and have been here for 1 month now. My room consists of the high end brands with customers ranging from city bankers to the cool and arty.

I enjoy how busy it is as I have come from somewhere smaller. The ethos of the store and the general history of the store makes it an amazing place to be part of.

Coming in as a new person, it was very easy. The team were welcoming and I got on with them immediately. The induction was very interesting and I learned a lot about the history and what they company expects from us as employees.

If you are enthusiastic, you like to work in a team and love fashion, come and work at Liberty as it’s a great place to be part of.”







Gavin Abery
Head of Merchandising - Merchandising “The iconic brand and the opportunity to develop the merchandising function is what attracted me to Liberty. The culture seems like a place where an individual can make a difference as ideas are welcomed.

I won’t use the cliché of no days are the same, because some days are! Mondays are all about reviewing the previous week's trade performance and the rest of the week we look at various things such as planning ahead for future seasons, spending time developing the team and the website.

I look forward to the difference I can make in Liberty. It’s a small organisation and therefore you can do things faster and make an impact instantly. I love working here, its great.”










Claire Healy
HR Business Partner – Human Resources “I started my career in luxury goods and Liberty really appealed to me as a high end retailer with many niche product lines. I love being part of such an iconic British brand in such a famous building!

I work in a cross-functional role with the Retail Management and HR teams and have got to know many passionate and driven people in both areas. Many people comment on how friendly everyone is at Liberty and this makes it a fun and enjoyable place to work. It’s really the variety of work that I do that keeps me interested, from recruiting new starters into the business to planning strategy with the management team. I also get to work with all levels of the business which is great for getting a different perspective.

The two day induction process is fantastic and really helps you to settle in and get to know the different sides of the business. It’s very thorough and it’s great that everybody goes through the same process on joining. There can be a lot of new names to learn but its amazing how quickly you get to know everyone and our social events really help.”






Jane Leadbetter and Bruno de Sousa
Learning and Development Manager and Learning and Development Advisor Jane – “Our role in Learning and Development is to develop our people to enhance their performance to meet business objectives. It is also about giving them opportunities to develop and further their careers.

Our aim is to integrate our new starters so they settle in and are in a position to add value as quickly as possible.”

Bruno – “Running Inductions is a great opportunity to welcome our new starters and highlight all the amazing things about Liberty. It's a unique experience on a weekly basis as every group is different; this is exciting. The challenge is to deliver the same message every week, but the way the group interacts keeps it varied.”

It's critical our new starters have a good first impression as it reassures them that they made the right choice in joining Liberty. Our job is to make sure our new employees feel welcome on their first day; we aim to keep it informative and fun.”

Jane – “Liberty is a wonderful brand with great people and the size of it makes it possible to make a difference. I can walk onto the shop floor at any time and receive immediate feedback on an HR initiative. I am fortunate to be involved in the whole spectrum of the business.”