Winner 2013
In the years leading up to WWII the Norwich boot and shoe trade employed over 10,000 people, a staggering 15% of the total workforce, making it the City’s premier industry.
Firms such as: P. Haldinstein & Son, Edwards & Holmes the Norvic Shoe Co. and Sexton Son & Everard were all forces to be reckoned with. Yet by the end of the century these mighty companies along with many of their competitors had floundered and failed.
This raises many questions. Not least of which is: Why? But it is also important to ask: What was it like working in the shoe factories? What shoes were made? Who were the major companies? What is their legacy?
The best people to answer such questions are those who worked in the factories. Here their fascinating commentaries have been interweaved with archive material, photographs, contemporary newspaper reports to tell the engrossing story of the Norwich boot and shoe trade.
An industry which for many years was the ‘Heart and “Sole” of the City’
Price including postage and packing in UK and N.I. £12