The London Lounge

It seems a tradition to notify all to the occassion of one's first post, and this is mine, so hello to everyone and I hope that you might contribute to it!
I am wondering whether any of you should have experience of 'Ducker and Son' shoes of Oxford. It is a small shop on Turl Street that does bespoke and RTW handmade shoes that fall into the same price bracket as CandJ Handgrades. Does anyone know how they compare in other respects?

I was across at "the other place" a couple of months ago for a dinner and managed to stop by Ducker's. The chap who runs it is very personable and he makes a stout shoe - I saw an example made for a gentleman with a hallux valgus. They do both a completely hand made shoe and one with some machine stitching to cut costs. From memory the former run at about 1000 pounds. I'm uncertain of the provenance of the RTW.

They do have a fairly comprehensive though very ugly website if anyone is curious: http://www.duckerandson.co.uk

I appreciate your comment about the machine-made vs hand-made models, but what I find confusing is the wide disparity in prices within the RTW section without a clear differentiation between ranges, i.e. for most types of shoe there is one example with its price, rather than two similar models of varying degrees of workmanship and quality. Though a few models are titled 'top quality'.
It would be interesting to know the provenance of the RTW, if anyone has an idea.

@BenedictSpinola ... I must return to "the other place" within the next week or so; not a cheery prospect.

It is about ten years ago that I last visited Duckers, and this brings back student memories. Back then, the RTW ranges were supplied to Duckers by somebody else. I think the best were just below Green and on a par with C&J handgrades. The more economical ranges were similar then to the Church custom grade (their entry level).

I did not enquire as a student about bespoke. I preferred to spend my allowance at the Connaught.

For those with an interest in such things, it appears that their ladies' range has a variety of widths-- not offered by any other similarly good shoemaker to my knowledge (C&J, et al.).

Is it just me, or do their lasts look very very "blobby" indeed?

I had the same impression. The toe appears almost ridiculous to my chiseled-toe-trained eye.

At least some of their RTW is made by Grenson.