The Pragnell Heritage

The team at George Pragnell are very aware they are dealing with not only the finest jewellery, but also their customers’ most momentous occasions.

Headed by Jeremy Pragnell, son of the founder George who opened the business in 1954, the showrooms at numbers 5 and 6 Wood Street have been sympathetically developed over the years and originally comprised four Tudor cottages. Much of the character still remains and charming features such as the wooded beams and Jacobean ceiling add to truly unique atmosphere.

George Pragnell

George Pragnell trained as a gemmologist with Biggs of Maidenhead. He worked his way up to run this prestigious jewellery business up until 1954 when he and his wife Margaret took over a small jewellers in Wood Street, Stratford upon Avon, changed the name and quickly established an excellent reputation in Warwickshire.

He and Margaret ran the business together until his retirement in 1983. At the age of five, Jeremy Pragnell remembers the family moving lock, stock and barrel, from a house to rooms above the shop. The business has since expanded to include neighbouring tudor buildings which have been sensitively restored to create a unique showroom.

Jeremy Pragnell

It was inevitable that, living in the flat above the shop from an early age for the first few years after his parents started the business, Jeremy would become completely immersed in the jewellery trade. After leaving school, Jeremy entered the trade by working as a stone picker for a London based stone dealer and manufacturer of quality jewellery, where he gained his Gemmology qualifications. He then spent a year in Germany and six months in Switzerland, working for prestigious retail jewellery companies, followed by two years working for Garrards, the Crown Jewellers, in London. In 1972 he joined the family firm in Stratford upon Avon.

Charlie Pragnell

Charlie Pragnell graduated in economics and politics and began his training in America studying gemmology and jewellery design at the Gemmological Institute of America, based in Carlsbad, California. Charlie then worked in New York's renowned diamond district, before completing an apprenticeship with one of the world's most prominent antique and period jewellery dealers. Charlie's continued passion for the jewellery trade brought him back to England where he worked in London's West End before joining the family business in January 2005. Charlie is now the firm’s principle gemstone buyer.