Episode 2: Ives Footwear - History on the Thoroughfare

We could have stayed all afternoon hearing about Old Suffolk and Woodbridge. Thanks so much to David and Fay from Ives Footwear, and do pop in and tell them that you heard them on Choose Woodbridge Podcast!
Their story starts in 1700 as curriers and goes all over East Anglia with such an interesting collection of tales and family. They opened the shop in Woodbridge in early 1981 and are a much loved fixture of the Thoroughfare.
https://ivesfootwear.co.uk/

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Transcript

Jan 0:02

Hello and welcome to the Choose Woodbridge Podcast. I'm Jan Pulsford and today we're in Ives Footwear on the Thoroughfare, where feet never had it so good. A fixture in Woodbridge and Suffolk for many years, Ives is one of England's oldest family shoe businesses, now in its sixth generation and still a family affair, with brother and sister David and Fay, who took over the Ives footwear business from their late father, John Ives.

David 0:37

Yes, we are the sixth generation. My father had somebody look through the family tree. We went back as far as 1707.

Jan 0:48

Wow. Yeah. I noticed that the Ives family were couriers. Is that how you pronounce it?

Fay 0:54

And what is a courier? See, it's all the work that they do with the leather before it's then made into the footwear. Like it's being cured, if you like. So I decided that's where it comes from.

David 1:06

Some people uh think that we've been mistaken by saying courier, not courier, but it is yes, it's the processing of the leather.

Jan 1:16

And that was in Crackfield near Halesworth, starting in the 1700s. And if you go to the Halesworth Museum, you'll see a fascinating display of photos and stories about the Ives family, who've had factories and shops all over East Anglia.

David 1:33

Well that was father's aunt Dora and Uncle Jack. That's right, yes. They were quite a character, they were. Uh it was Bridge House, wasn't it? Yes, that's right. In Halesworth, that's it. I believe they also had a place in Diss, all the old Leiston, Halesworth and Diss. Yes. Uh Bridge House the shop in Halesworth. I don't know whether it's there now, but they used to have this Clark's clock. Huge clock outside on the side of the building. Now, it was said to us that it was the only one in Europe. Wow.

Jan 2:11

And of course, you're sixth generation, Ives brother and sister. Yes.

David 2:17

Yeah.

unknown 2:18

Yeah.

Jan 2:18

We get on. We do be.

Fay 2:20

We know each other too well, don't we? We have our moments. You have to get on. Because you do, but we do. Yeah, but we do.

David 2:26

We do it.

Fay 2:30

I started with father when I was about, well, in all honesty, I started about 11, because I'm going back a long one. Many could many years, and you could do, you know, helping to put boxes away. Then at 13, you you started as a Saturday girl and you didn't get any special treatment, which I'm very grateful for. You you know, you came up the hard way. You're still learning now. And I'm still learning now, I'm still selling on shoes. No, and and then you came in.

unknown 2:58

Yeah.

David 2:59

And then uh I came in when I left school uh at 16 and just went straight into the business. I didn't honestly, I didn't really know what I wanted to do, and I assumed it was just always going to be carrying on with shoes. And my mother couldn't stand me being at home on a Saturday, so I used to go with father to Felix Day. That's right, because yes, you didn't work in the lace and shop. No. No, you're a young young guy. We opened Felixstowe in 79. That was an old greengrocer's shop, which today is W. H. Smith and the Hamilton Road. Okay. Uh, it was a lovely shop. It was um two massive great curved windows at the front going to a porch. And um uh remember father used to have to insure those for a huge amount of money. Yeah, we started that, and it's it's interesting because I've seen pictures of what would be our great aunt Dora. So Dora and Jackie getting back to Halesworth. Now the front of their shop was absolutely identical to Felixstowe. Same windows, cove windows, even the sign, British race and green and gold lettering, which of course is what father started with. Yes, that's right. At um at Felixstowe. Yes, that's right.

Jan 4:26

So there were three Ives brothers, Herbert, Jack, and Jim. Yes.

David 4:30

All characters. Yes, yes, Jim preferred to be out fishing and uh left it to Dora to man the shop. He'd just go and disappear on the boat. I can't help but feel there's a yeah, I can feel a link coming on there. Yeah, yeah.

Fay 4:48

Yes, you would. You'd go, he'd disappear. And if you if he said you'd be back at seven o'clock, if he wasn't, she calls the Coast Guards out. Oh gosh.

David 4:58

In the 20s, uh family decided that there was more money in retailing than wholesaling. So sometime in the early 20s, manufacturing stopped and went into selling shoes. I think Herbert, so grandfather, Paul's father, if you could wear it, he sold it. Yes. Okay. So it wasn't just shoes. No, oh no, no. So clothing, gloves. I mean, as Fay was saying, the brothers had a character. Well, he he had a real character, Herbert. Because many a tale uh he'd go down to London uh for bankrupt stock. And he'd take father with him. And father used to think, oh God, is it used to cringe? Because Grandshow would say, Right, John, don't put your scruffiest clothing on. Yeah, if you haven't got a hole in your trousers, make a ruddy old boy. And uh, true story, and they used to go down, drive down to London, wherever it was in London. And uh Herbert would say, No, no, we're poor old retailers in Suffolk, you know. What's the best duty can do? So he'd hammer them down on price, and then if that wasn't enough, Herbert would then say, No, we've got caught a long way back. What about a bit of money for the fuel? And nine times out or eight times out of ten, he'd get a further discount. So there's a discount on the discount.

Fay 6:28

This is the to the end, he works. Yes, yeah, and poor Pa he used to he was, he was cringy. He used to say, Oh, I wish the ground would swallow me up.

David 6:37

And yes, but yeah, but it did the trick. And he and he'd come home with um single gloves, left hand a whole load of left-handed gloves. Yeah, and his uh grandmother would say, 'What the hell have you come home with those for? What good will they do? Oh, but Muriel, that was but Muriel, we got Fortness Golf Club here, Aldeburgh Golf Club. We'd better sell them as golfing gloves. And he did. He did. Yes. Yes. He could he could sell, Lion Father could, he could sell um White Cat to a witch easily.

Jan 7:12

And so on to opening the shop in Woodbridge.

David 7:16

I never can remember if it was 81 or 82. Is it August 81 or August 82? We came here. We took over this shop that was originally owned by two sisters. Yes, the Sawyers, yes. The Sawyers. They were lovely. Yeah. Yes, they had it as a hairdressers and um main mainly clothes shop and hairdressers, and yeah, we took it on from there. Uh with which we had three genders. We had children's, women's, and men's. Woodbridge still has that um appeal of old-weldie. You know, the eyes with their shoes, uh, Peter with his crafts, uh everybody with their own select goods.

Fay 8:02

Yeah, I mean, we get people coming from way afar, don't we? And so you really do. I mean, not just us, but Woodbridge in general.

David 8:11

We we have a couple that have been coming to us a long time, uh, 10-15 years. Now they live in Epsom. And the first time I met them, I said, you know, um, you know, don't take this wrong way, but are there no shoe shops in Epsom? Yes, there are, but nothing like this. They'd either come up on the train or drive up there, two and a half hour drive. And I said, Well, you so you're meeting family? No, we do our shopping in Woodbridge, then we have something to eat, go by the river and then go back home.

Jan 8:41

And so many changes, especially with the online selling. Yes, that's very hard.

Fay 8:46

And of course, stock, stock is different. What we sell now. Yes, it is. Very, very different. It's all comfort, more casual. I I remember when I first started with father, lady shoes were so pretty and feminine. Well, they're not so much now, are they?

David 9:02

Very much trainers.

Fay 9:04

It is. Yeah.

David 9:06

Not only high heels. No, no, no, not at all. No, we used to do a range of um dress shoes called Bally. And uh they were based in Norwich, they're local, and they were three-inch heels. Yes. Yes. Well, I can't think of the last time we sold a three-inch heel. No, no, not at all. Two and a quarter inch tops. Yes. And that's sort of pushing it. Yeah. Um, so yeah, we've seen those changes. We also we had a huge business of children fitting children's shoes, right back in the lace and days. And um, we still see the second and third generation coming in. Oh, your father sold me my first pair of shoes, you know. And this person's about 60, 65, isn't it? Something like that. Um but clerks decided that in 2013, I think it was, that they'd go online, sell children's shoes online. And it was then we noticed a a change, a dip, huge dip in uh sales in in children's shoes. It was without doubt, in the top three, the hardest decisions to make to stop sending children's shoes.

Fay 10:21

Oh, Daddy put it off twice, didn't he, Bless?

Jan 10:24

Because I can remember going in and being measured. Yes.

David 10:28

Yes, that's right, yes. Yes, yes, he did that. Yes. And you um uh when father was a child, they used to have even this X-ray machine that you could see your toes, uh, the skeleton of your foot in the shoes. But after a little while they re redrew it because some um minuscule amount of radiation was uh found.

Fay 10:53

And uh oh no, it can't have that. I don't think Herbert had one. He wouldn't have one, but the story was so Pa used to all at once ever would say, Where's the boy gone? And he would be going down to Freeman, Hardy, and Willis, that was further down the high three, and jumping on and off there and going on there. Yeah.

Jan 11:14

Oh, what a lovely time listening to those stories. I could have stayed all afternoon hearing about Old Suffolk and Woodbridge. Thanks so much to David and Fay from Ives Footwear, and do pop in and tell them that you heard them on Choose Woodbridge Podcast. Choose Woodbridge were the days of pride. We hope you've enjoyed this podcast from Choose Woodbridge. They support the town, the community, our thriving independent shops and businesses, and welcome visitors from all over the world. Do get in touch and tell us where you're listening from. And you can find us online at choosewoodbridge.co.uk