Buried in the racks of Edwardian officers’ dress jackets and shelves of dusty Bombay bowlers is the history of a fashion institution.

For more than 50 years the braided officers’ tunics and standard-issue combat trousers of Laurence Corner have been a big attraction for designers, pop stars and foreign armies.

But the world’s most famous army surplus store — the inspiration for Sgt Pepper, couturier to Michael Jackson and supplier of cheap military chic for generations of students — will close this weekend. Laurence Corner opened in 1947 when Victor Jamilly discovered that he could make a profit from the unused equipment being sold by the Army. “He would go to army auctions and buy in bulk,” said Mr Jamilly’s daughter, Kim Einhorn. “He had an amazing eye for a bargain and would seem to find a buyer for everything.

“It didn’t matter if it was 10,000 demob suits or 20,000 gas masks. He wasn’t after a quick turnaround. Some of the stuff still in the shop was bought 53 years ago. There are uniforms going back to the 1880s.”

Often the buyers were foreign armies that needed to equip their soldiers or charities that wanted to send supplies to disaster zones. But in the Sixties the shop, near Euston Station in Central London, became a fashion institution.

One rail is still packed with the Edwardian dress uniforms that provided John, Paul, George and Ringo with the inspiration for Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The Beatles picked up the jackets for £6 each; now they start at £150 and go up to £700.

Each floor of the five-storey shop is packed with an eclectic mix of surplus military supplies from around the globe. A Zulu warrior’s shield sits beside the racks of Russian air force caps. In the basement is an enormous box of unopened 1969 American “chemical and biological protective trousers”.

Mr Jamilly died in January and his children have been unable to find a buyer for the emporium. An estimated 20,000 items of clothing remain to be sold this weekend or face being dumped in a skip.

The shop has been a magnet for the world’s leading designers. Visitors have included Jean Paul Gaultier, Rifat Ozbek, Katharine Hamnett and Vivienne Westwood. At one stage the shop was so popular with the fashion aristocracy that it was known as “Yves Saint Laurent Corner”.

The model Kate Moss shopped for parkas and Boy George bought the outfits for Culture Club there. Keith Moon, of The Who, caused chaos when he visited the store.

The shop has also catered for theatrical and film productions, providing kit for the cast of Dad’s Army and accessories for Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

Even with khaki-style and combat chic now a staple of many high street stores there has remained a demand for the original items.

“The British Army stuff is superbly tailored to a quality you just can’t buy in the high street,” Ms Einhorn said. “The older stuff is particularly popular with women because it fits perfectly.”

But even Mr Jamilly had to admit that he might have made a mistake with the 50,000 wartime-issue American hymnals. They eventually rotted away in the basement.

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