Bench Made Shoes

[Frederic Leighton]

[...] Did you take those back to the original manufacturer/shoemaker or was that work done by an independent cobbler? If the latter, of course, inquiring minds want to know the identity . . . .

The work was done by an independent cobbler in Finchley Road, the same who does all the repairs for John Lobb and Crockett & Jones (those repairs that don't need the shoes to be sent back to the factory). I never asked the exact address, as at C&J's they are kind enough to pass also some of my non-C&J shoes on to him for repairs.

[bengal-stripe]

The work was done by an independent cobbler in Finchley Road.......I never asked the exact address, as at C&J's they are kind enough to pass also some of my non-C&J shoes on to him for repairs.

I think you are talking about this firm (not on Finchley Road, but in East Finchley):

http://www.kokos.co.uk/

[Frederic Leighton]

The work was done by an independent cobbler in Finchley Road.......I never asked the exact address, as at C&J's they are kind enough to pass also some of my non-C&J shoes on to him for repairs.

I think you are talking about this firm (not on Finchley Road, but in East Finchley):
http://www.kokos.co.uk/

I'm totally sure the manager of the smaller C&J shop in Jermyn St told me the cobbler is based in Finchley Road; he might have got mixed up, I don't know. I didn't need the details. I met the cobbler once, though - a very big man bith a contagious laugh. He comes and goes with the kind of massive, shapeless bag you would usually associate with Santa.

[bengal-stripe]

Well, I know for certain, a few years back C&J used Kokos, but that might have changed. Back then, Kokos was probably the only shoe repair firm in London that would mount recessed metal toe pieces ("Lulus").

[Frederic Leighton]

At C&J's they used to be Berluti tips, but as a senior director (and dandy gentleman) put it on one of my recent visits, before a pleased laugh: "We call them lulu tips now. We don't want to accord anything to Berluti."