Shoe Trade

Brook Street, 2007.

Mr Whittington: The earliest remembrance of the shoe trade that I remember myself was a Mr Ward, was the father of Lawson Ward, and he used to run a carrier business with a horse and cart between Sileby and Leicester to bring the uppers from Leicester to be made into shoes by Walker & Kempsons of Sileby, they had a branch, that was a branch from Leicester, they had a factory on Cossington Road. A Mr Bott was the manager there and eventually he became the manager of Morir’s of Sileby – M.o.r.i.r. – they’re spelt. There was another factory, AH Simon’s, they started. A Mr Willett, he got a factory in Seagrave Road, he started in a hut in his back garden on Cossington Road for about 12 months, then he got some property, he had this factory built on Seagrave Road. Well, since then, that got in the depression, faded out.

Interviewer: Were men laid off in the depression?

Mr Whittington: Oh yes, there were a lot laid off in the depression, because when I was at Newbold & Burtons before I retired there’d be about 700 work there and 70 in the clicking room alone as I was over, shop steward over. Now they tell me there’s barely that 70 in the factory altogether.

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