COMMENT
Business Buzz
with Harry Pearson
If the shoe fits
A nostalgic step back to an era when shoe shops measured more than just feet – they also measured kindness, patience and the time Harry’ s mum took to try on 750 pairs of high heels...
As you will see elsewhere in this issue, Charles Clinkard, MD of the famous Teesside shoe retailer, has just polled in the top 30 inspirational regional business leaders. I was very pleased to read this as the very mention of Clinkard’ s brings a warm feeling of nostalgia to my chest( well, it’ s either that or the effect of that Petch’ s pork pie I had for lunch).
Firstly, this is because when I was a youngster, the night of October 31 saw the small children of the region wandering around carrying turnip lanterns( no pumpkins in those days), knocking on doors and asking:“ Have you got any money for Halloween?”
Since my home village of Great Ayton was in Yorkshire, the answer was usually a cheery“ Yes, thanks, lads,” followed by the door shutting in your face. The only place this didn’ t happen was at an elegant house on the High Green. Here, a handsome, white-haired man would greet us warmly and give us each a 5p piece. This man was Mr Clinkard, one of the sons of the founder of the Middlesbrough shoe shop. His kindness has lived long in my mind.
The second memory is one many more of you will share. As a nipper I used to get my school shoes at Clinkard’ s. I always insisted on the Redcar branch, mainly because it meant that I’ d get to go to Pacitto’ s afterwards as a reward for good behaviour( because buying shoes was boring, especially since your mum would use any visit as an excuse to try on 750 pairs of high heels before finally deciding that, after careful consideration, the first ones she’ d put on were best and“ Don’ t tell your dad how much they cost”).
As a child, a visit to Clinkard’ s involved having your feet measured on a ramp-like contraption that was placed before you by the sales assistant. A metal calliper that smacked against your big toe measured the length of your foot and cloth tape measured the width. Once you put the shoe on, there was a good deal of pushing and squeezing on the shoe to
How fitting – shoe-shop staff measuring children’ s feet the old-fashioned way.
ascertain if there was“ room for him to grow into it a bit”. If you were lucky, you might come away with a pair of the coveted Clark’ s Commandos, which had animal footprints embossed on the sole and a compass concealed in one heel. Wearing them made you feel like a real-life Action Man, though, of course, you could stand up more easily and when you pulled the shoes off your feet didn’ t come away with them, leaving a white plastic spoke sticking out of the top.
In those days, us kids generally got a new pair of shoes once a year. These, combined with wellies and plimsolls, comprised your entire shoe collection. Given this fact, it’ s a wonder there were so many shoe shops back then. And there certainly were a lot. UK-wide chains included Freeman Hardy & Willis( 540 shops), Lilley and Skinner( 470), Dolcis( 250) and Barratts( 220) as well as dozens of others( Ravel, Stead & Simpson and Timpson among them) and hundreds of independents.
All of these have now gone( as, sadly, have the Clinkard’ s shops in Middlesbrough and Redcar). The fact that Charles Clinkard is still here is testimony not only to their resilience but also to something old-fashioned and enduring. In 2020, Which? magazine named Charles Clinkard as the top shoe retailer in Britain. The prestigious consumer magazine was bowled over by the quality of the personal service offered by staff.
My mum would have agreed.“ They always make you feel special,” was her verdict.
And they did that even if you did try on 749 more pairs than were strictly necessary, while your son sat in the corner pulling faces.
Harry Pearson’ s latest book The Farther Corner – A Sentimental Return to North-East Football is out now.
162 | Tees Business