ALFRED C. WARD

Alf Ward standing outside 2 New Street, later called Braganza Street, London SE17. Alf had a good job elsewhere, but after the death of his Father in 1921, due to the long lease on the family home and shop, he had no choice but to give up his skilled job and run the boot and shoe repairing business.

This is a scan of a photocopy and is illustrated here until the original photograph, which survives, can be scanned.

The shop window of “number 2” was always laid out well. In the late 1940s there was a miniature painted model of a cobbler and items such as inner soles, laces, polish, Philips sticker-soles and so on. It was always clean. The shop sign above the window was in gold lettering on a black field.

Inside the shop there were floor boards which must have been washed every day. The counter was on the left and I think ran the depth of the shop. Everything was clean. Behind it was Alf sitting on a stool, a stool he made himself which still survives. There was a bucket with water in which he soaked the leather. (His hands were soft, young looking and freckled. He said they were soft because of the leather in the water; he was always dipping his hands to extract the leather.) He trimmed the leather on his lap.

At the back of the shop on the counter side, was a door with glass panels at the top. It was never opened. It had a net curtain so that Hilda could see into the shop from the dining room (which they called the Kitchen as it still had a kitchen-range). On the other side of the counter where the customers stood or perhaps sat, there was another door at the back, which led into a very small hall. Here was the long case barometer with needed to be tapped by Alf. There was also a Grandfather Clock; Alf was in charge of it, taking out his silver pocket watch to check the time. I’m not sure which one he thought was out!