Hannah Okafor
Optometrist & director
Leads the clinical team and reviews every OCT scan. Joined in 2009; took over the practice in 2018.
Glaucoma and OCT imaging
Since 1962
About the practice
Three generations of patients, one address on Bridge Street, and a habit of explaining things properly.
64
years on the high street
3
generations of the same families
45
minutes for a full eye test with OCT
400
frames, none from the big brands
Marlow & Finch opened at 14 Bridge Street in 1962 with one testing room, a wall of frames and a promise to take as long as each patient needed. We are still independent, still at the same address, and still booking appointments long enough to do the job well.
Independent on purpose
Not belonging to a chain means we choose every frame and every lens supplier ourselves, and no one sets us sales targets. It means we can recommend the cheaper lens when it is the right one.
Clinical first
Our optometrists invest in equipment the high street often skips: OCT retinal imaging, widefield photography and a dedicated dry-eye clinic. Eye tests are a health check before they are a sale.
We would rather see you every two years for forty years than sell you something once.
Marlow & Finch is a fictional practice created to demonstrate this theme. Names, prices and addresses are illustrative.
The team
Optometrists and dispensers
Tom Lacey
Dispensing optician
Has fitted frames on Bridge Street for twenty years and will tell you honestly when a frame is wrong.
High prescriptions and varifocals
Mei Chen
Contact lens optician
Teaches nervous first-time wearers and runs the children’s myopia-control clinic.
Specialty and myopia-control lenses
Ruth Ellison
Practice manager
The voice on the phone. Knows every patient by name and most of their dogs.
Appointments and repairs
Our promises
- No upselling. We recommend the lens your prescription needs, and say so when the cheaper one is just as good.
- Free adjustments, forever. Wherever you bought your glasses, pop in and we will straighten, tighten and clean them.
- Your prescription is yours. You leave every eye test with a copy, whether or not you buy from us.
- Ninety-day adapt guarantee. If you cannot get on with new varifocals, we remake them.