F White, High Class Shoe Repairs

A Memory of Reigate.

My granddad, Frank White (and later, my dad, Roy White) had a shoe repair shop for about 40 years, until the late 60s, on Western Parade. It is just visible in the centre of the photo with the light and dark fascia board above the shop window. It was actually one shop split in two, with Parrs the mens' hairdressers in the other half (beneath the darker fascia).
We lived in the top flat (number 10B) above Mantell's newsagent, the next shop beyond ours, which is just out of view. My mum and dad lived there from around 1951, I came along in 1953, and we were there until 1967 when the shop's lease ran out and we moved to a shop with house in Lesbourne Road, Reigate, where dad continued his shoe repair business. My granddad was a master bootmaker and opened his first shop in Meadvale, before moving to Woodhatch, and he must have been well respected in the trade, as he apprenticed many of the people who later opened their own shoe shops in and around Reigate. Among granddad's and dad's customers, they often told me that speed record breaker Sir Malcolm Campbell and later, his son Donald Campbell (and their mechanic, Leo Villa) brought their shoes in for repair. I've often wondered if their shoe repairs were the fastest on Earth!
Although little changed over the years, the most noticeable difference now is the volume of cars. From a young age, I used to ride my bike unsupervised around the shops and trees, opposite the Angel in the background. Now, though, the grass verges have been made into parking spaces and it's hardly worth attempting to drive up the service road for the congestion.