On this day in Yorkshire 1942

Chiefly as a result of footwear being rationed, the demand for boot and shoe repairs has increased greatly since the war started.

Some firms of shoe repairers estimate that the demand for repairs has gone up as much as 50 per cent.

The trouble is that supplies of leather, and particularly of rubber soles and heels, have been restricted by war conditions that the demand for repairs cannot readily met; apart from the difficulty of calling up depleting the ranks of skilled craftsmen.

Leeds boot and shoe repairers are unanimously of the opinion that the present public demand for footwear repairs is much higher than it was before the war.

Often customers have be told that their repairs cannot be put through in less than three weeks time.

“The sooner the public understands that, the better,” said the manager of one Leeds shoe store.

“If a customer has no more than two or three pairs of serviceable shoes, it does not pay to wear one pair to the limit, and then excessively wear an alternate pair during the time the first pair is being repaired.

If people would only give alternate wear to two or more pairs of shoes, and not put off repairs until the last moment, the country’s footwear repairing problems would be much eased.”

Search through our archive papers and much more at the http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk