British Footwear Adverts, 1951

[Two Types]

Here is a selection of footwear advertisements from the UK in 1951:

Wearra Shoes (of Irthlingborough)

Rimforts replacement heels (of Higham Ferrers)

Paton's Laces:

Norwell's of Perth Norwegian Ski Shoe:

 

[Mr Badger]

Oh, brother! :eusa_clap

My dad's side of the family lived in Rushden/Higham Ferrers, this brings back a lotta great memories! We used to get taken to the John White factory shop when we were kids, it seemed positively huge, akin to the warehouse in the final scene of Raiders...

There was still large scale boots and shoe-making going on back then, even the local tanneries were still operating – I remember asking my folks to wind up the car window before we went past 'em, they smelt so bad...

BTW, for some reason Irthlingborough was always referred to by locals as 'Artleknock'!

 

[Two Types]

Oh, brother! :eusa_clap

My dad's side of the family lived in Rushden/Higham Ferrers, this brings back a lotta great memories! We used to get taken to the John White factory shop when we were kids, it seemed positively huge, akin to the warehouse in the final scene of Raiders...

There was still large scale boots and shoe-making going on back then, even the local tanneries were still operating – I remember asking my folks to wind up the car window before we went past 'em, they smelt so bad...

BTW, for some reason Irthlingborough was always referred to by locals as 'Artleknock'!

It's all changed around there. Rushden still has a few factories, Higham has none. Nor does Irthlingborough. But they still call it Artleknock. The locals have a quaint name for the process of youths driving endlessly around the place, most places call it cruising, they call it 'townie lapping'.
Irthlingborough is an odd place - it was the smallest town in the UK. A few years back and I saw the fantastic scene of a local lad having a fight with a gypsy. The gypsy was getting a pasting, but when the local lad's mates tried to break it up the gypsy's own mother stopped them: she wanted her son to be in a fair fight even if he lost. Later I saw the local lad ceremonially burning the gypsy's trainers and the gypsy walking round town shirtless - about five hours later - loooking for revenge. Thank god for small towns!