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LMS Route: Rugby to Wolverhampton

Brandon and Wolston: lnwrbw3293

Looking towards Coventry along the station's down platform with the goods yard and shed on the right in the 1930s

Looking towards Coventry along the station's down platform with the goods yard and shed on the right in the 1930s. The photograph had no date or any other information on it but by comparing the cleanliness of the canopy on the up platform and the relatively completeness of the canopy on the down platform with photographs taken in 1947 (see images 'lnwrbw537b' and 'lnwrbw3094a') it is in our view a creditable date. On the right is a poster for John White Shoes, which are still manufactured today. The business was founded in the midst of a post war depression – one that hit the shoe trade particularly hard. The business went on to sell millions. In 1920, a three-storey house on Church Street became John White's first factory. There were clickers on the top floor, sewers and stitchers on the middle, and finishers on the ground. There was also a big room set aside for a team making shoes completely by hand. The company was soon selling 6,000 pairs a week. In 1939, John White built his flagship factory. Based on Lime Street in Rushden, the front was emblazoned with ‘Impregnable Boots.’ Impregnable was apt, not only as the name of their most reputable Goodyear welted boots, but also because 1939 was the dawn of the second world war – during which John White would play a major role.

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