Then and Now: E. Ward footwear shop was situated at 23 Watergate, Grantham, in the 1960s and 1970s

E Ward footwear shop was situated at 23 Watergate in the 1960s and 1970s. They also had branches at Matlock and Worksop, writes Ruth Crook,of Grantham Civic Society.

Wards sold Clark’s shoes for children, and in 1968 advertised that the shoes they stocked were ‘not just in sizes and ½-sizes – but in four width fittings. A child’s show should fit snugly at the heel, comfortably across the width of the foot with the right support at the instep – and still leave room for toes to grow straight and strong’.

Clark’s shoes began in 1825 in Street in Somerset, when Cyrus and James Clark invented slippers from offcuts of sheepskin. The slipper was called the ‘Brown Petersburgh’ and became a huge success. Their business went from strength to strength, and by 1842 they were selling 1000 pairs of slippers per month.

After a recession in the 1860s they diversified, and in 1883 the first ever commercially available shoe was produced to fit the shape of the foot. In the 1940s foot gauges were introduced to provide a more accurate fit for children’s shoes.