Uxbridge: Better than it sounds?

Balcony Shirts opened on Saturday in Windsor Street, Uxbridge, and is the latest step in a T-shirt selling venture inspired by controversial rocker Pete Doherty.

Scott Raison, one half of a partnership with Chris Taylor, said: "It all started five years ago when Pete Doherty was in court and we made a T-shirt saying Free Pete Doherty.

"We were deluged with orders, so we started making different shirts and realised there was a market for it."

Mr Taylor said: "The idea of shirts promoting towns and cities came from America. Whoever made the I Love New York T-shirt must have made millions.

"We had the idea of doing an ironic take on that: the 'Hayes - Wake Up and Smell The Coffee' shirt was created because of the big Nestlé fac-tory in Hayes.

"We came up with the 'Uxbridge - it's better than it sounds' shirt because of the puzzled look you sometimes get from people when you say you are from Uxbridge."

The pair both live in Uxbridge and have been working from a factory on Uxbridge

Industrial Estate. When the chance to move into a shop came up, they jumped at it.

Mr Raison, who played guitar when the pair were in a band, said: "The rents weren't much higher than what we were paying anyway so we thought it would be ideal, especially in the lead-up to Christmas.

"It's a good challenge for us. We launched shirts for Milton Keynes online and were successful - the local mayor and councillors were seen wearing them."

Frank Harris, the chairman of Windsor Street Traders' Association, said: "It's good to see two young people taking initiative, and good news to see somebody opening up despite the recession.

"It's good for the street - it's another specialist shop. They work hard and have done really well to get it open so quickly."

T-shirts, at £15, and hooded sweatshirts, at £25, can be customised with the colour and slogan of your choice.