11 Comments
The Roxy Shoe Repair shop has been in O'Hagan Street in Newry for over 40 years and owner John Haughian has a story to tell from many of them. Finding someone handcuffed to a stool outside his shop or a customer calling a year later to collect their shoes was just what happened. This shoemaker is certainly not short on wit so all was no doubt taken in his stride. "A chap came in here one day and he was looking for a pair of laces, and the fella that worked with me at the time came around and he says to him 'how long do you want them?' and I says 'I think he wants to keep them'"
Originally from Lurgan he thinks the Newry shop opened in 1982 "as far as I can remember - it's that long ago" he explains. Mind you this writer photographed him the very year it opened and it really was long ago!
Haughian studied shoe repair in London and when he returned home he opened shops in Lurgan, Newry and Armagh. One of his apprentices at the time was a young lad called Sean Markey. He subsequently sold the other two businesses to his brother in laws and kept the Newry shop "I like this shop, I like the town, I like the people." he adds.
The business started as a heel bar and key cutting service, knocking on heels, doing the odd stitching work and sticking on soles and heels. The business is now more of a specialist trade with repairs supplemented with shoe making and specialised repairs.
Recalling the 80's Haughian said "A lot of women came in to get their heels done. The stilletto heels were a big thing in the 80's. They don't last long and it's because they're designed not to last long." They got much flack with customers saying 'these heels don't last long' As he explains the truth of the matter was "Some people could get away with wearing a pair of stilletto heels for a month but other women could get a weekend out of them."
He adds "I worked in the heel bars in London and the girls used to queue up on a Friday to get their heels done and they'd be back there on a Monday morning, that's how quick they were walked off. People don't realise they're only a small plastic top piece and they won't take much abuse. They don't realise that when they get a pair of heels, it's not the same as getting a big pair of boots heeled that will last them six months. It's a very flimsy small piece of rubber."
One of the fixtures of the shop almost from the beginning is a solid stool that he uses every day ... thanks to a pair of bolt cutters! Haughian said "This stool I'm sitting on here today. I was down to the shop at 8 in the morning and there was a fella standing outside the door waiting on me. He was handcuffed to this stool and he had to wait on me opening up to come in and unattach him. It was nothing to do with shoe repair but the jobs that you get are just hilarious. I had a guy in one time and I thought it was Candid Camera because he turned around and said to me 'could you stretch these galoshes' - do you know what galoshes are, they're rubber shoes, and I says I can stretch them but they'll bounce back in again."
On the handcuff incident he explains "I had a big pair of bolt cutters" and he's still using the stool 40 odd years later!
Pretend Shoes
The quality of a lot of todays shoes leaves a lot to be desired. Haughian calls some of them 'pretend shoes'
"Such a difference in shoes we're seeing now. It's criminal what they're selling, how they get away with it I don't know. We went through stages from the 1980's right up to now. The fashions all change."
Recalling one particular shoe Haughian said "I remember the pod shoes and - was responsible for selling all these Pod shoes. They were the worst shoes I ever had to repair in my entire life. There was a big bumper rubber sole and the buckle always broke on them and it was just a nightmare to try and repair these shoes - you could get nothing to stick to them.
"Shoes are the same throughout time, there's quality and there's rubbish. There's poor quality shoes out there. We seem to do a lot of poor quality shoes but we do have our clients that actually do like decent shoes and thank God for these patrons because if I didn't have them I don't think I'd be in the business anymore it's just got so bad. Shoe quality now today is just criminal. It's plastic - 'pretend shoes' we call them." He believes these 'throwaway' shoes certainly are not for wearing and they're not for durability.
Speaking about a ripped shoe he is working on currently Haughian explains "People don't realise.They come in for a wee job like this and they think this is a two minute job, he'll do this in two minutes. In actual fact, what I have to do is, I have to change the thread to match the colour of the shoe, I have to change the size of the needle and I have to change the size of the thickness of the thread, and people think oh, that will only take him two minutes.- Now Paul Daniels couldn't do it in two minutes and he had a wand. I've only got a sewing machine."
London
Haughian trained in London "I wanted to learn how to make shoes, design shoes, so I went to Rossandale and I studied in Accrington College for pattern cutting and design. I have certificates in pattern cutting and design and that's what I do. I'm finding it has been very beneficial for me now because I make specialist shoes for people, and I don't have to depend on anyone."
One pair he is currently working on is a pair of calf suede shoes finished with a punch toe and a full cut vamp for a client in London, who gets a few pair made every year." I do the whole entire procedure from designing the shoe to cutting the pattern, cutting the leather, sewing the upper together and putting the shoe together. Most people that make shoes buy in their uppers. I make my uppers from scratch. I have all the facilities here to do all the uppers I'm making."
Making specialist shoes is just one of the skills, Roxy also do a full revamp of R.M. Williams boots. Haughian explains "We strip them right back, put a full leather sole and heel on them or a unit that suits the job. And we pick out all the stitching, we restitch the sole back on, new heel again and then we revamp the upper. The upper can come in, in a very sorry state and it goes out like a new boot.
" It's one of the things that we are doing now that we're very proud of." he adds.
Other services offered are new soles and heels on shoes and boots, zips on boots, alterations for people that have problem feet. The also have a wide product range of laces, dyes, polishes, basically anything you need for a shoe, they have it.
'I'll call back later'
One of the scourges of many repair businesses is customers leaving an item in and forgetting where they left them or deliberately not calling back.
Haughian recalls one such customer "I remember one time this guy come in and he had a very very old ticket, it must have been six months or maybe a year and he says to me 'are these shoes still here' so I hunted them out and lucky enough they were still on the shelf. I says to him, they are, they're ready. And he says how much are they and I says I think they're about 12 pounds, they're 12 pounds 50 on the ticket and I says that's the old price, you're lucky enough. He says I tell you what I'll be back in a week's time for them, and I thought to myself well that fellow's in no rush. - Never to be seen again."
The problem with our society now seems to be that we've too many shoes." It used to be years ago you'd have a pair of black and a pair of brown and that was gents shoes and you looked after them, you polished them, you got them heeled, you had your going to mass/ church shoes and people looked after shoes.
"Now they've got that many shoes, they're lying in a heap in the wardrobe and they've two odd ones and going out some Saturday night they don't even realise it We had to take the decision to start taking deposits and we still get people leaving shoes and forgetting about them even after they pay the deposit so that speaks volumes. There's just too many shoes now at the minute and quality is not there.
Running repairs
Cheap runners are just not viable to repair Haughian explains "The thing with runners is that runners are very expensive, but we're not living in the area where we get expensive runners, we get the copies. If someone's paying between £100 and £500 for a pair of runners it's viable to repair them, but when you get the ones coming in from Jonesborough market at £29.99 and you're looking maybe £30 to put a sole on them, it's not feasible. "
Despite this they do repair a lot of runners, especially the mesh toes on them. Other stranger repairs he thinks TV show The Repair Shop is to blame. "I think one of our biggest problems at the minute is the television show The Repair Shop, because I'm seeing people bring me in porcelain, mirrors gun cases, all sorts of things"
Just to give an idea of the type of things they are asked to do Haughian adds "A guy came in and he had a mug, his favourite mug and the handle had broken off it and he asked me to take the handle off a new mug that he had bought and put it onto the old mug, his favourite mug. These are the sorts of things we're being asked to do. The Repair Shop has a lot to answer for."
Haughian now runs the business along with his two sons Paul and Ryan. His two sons tend to take on the bulk of the ordinary repairs which frees him up to do alterations and shoe making. He's also made aprons, dog leads and a variety of other items.
Painting
When he does get away from the shop he loves painting. " I wanted to do that from I left school and I should have done that because that's the job I always wanted. I've always been creative and I've always wanted to do something with my hands. I remember one time been offered a job out on the road selling Fujifilm and Kodak and I used to get home at night and I felt like I hadn't done any work, and I might have done a deal for a £28,000 contract for that year for that shop but I felt like I hadn't done anything because I wasn't working with my hands. I love working with my hands, I love creating things. My art is a big thing. I'm getting more time now to paint which I enjoy." You can see his art at Sarah & Mart's Shop and Studio in WIN Business Park.
Feel free to call in to The Roxy Shoe Repair at 2 O'Hagan Street in Newry, but maybe leave that old ceramic repair for another day!
