Our History

The founder of the business Tom Craggs was born on 10th April 1905 and raised in Crook, Co. Durham.

His father worked in the local pit and young Tom intended to follow his father's footsteps. Tragically as a youngster Tom lost the lower part of his leg whilst riding a pit tub near his home. When the time came for him to get a job he found himself working in the local cobblers shop, which he enjoyed. Unfortunately the 1930 depression was starting to bite and he lost his job. With a young family to support Tom decided to look for work elsewhere and came to Leeds.

He found employment with the Leeds Shoe Depot on Lovell Road, so Tom moved his wife Hilda and their young family, Edith, Thomas and Margaret to Leeds.

One day Hilda came to see Tom at his work place and an unexpected visitor called with some bad news. The owner had not been paying his bank loan on the business and the bank now intended to call in the loan unless someone took over the debt. Tom and Hilda agreed to take over the business and that was the beginning of Craggs Shoe Repairs.

Tom now found himself with a wife, four children and a business...

After the Second World War the original shop was due to be demolished as part of the slum clearance, so a new shop was opened in Camp Road which then moved to Carlisle Terrace. By this time Tom Jnr had joined his father in the business after his National Service, and the business began to prosper. Sadly Tom became ill and died on New Years Day 1965; at this point Peter joined Tommy.

The two brothers and their sister Margaret continued their father's good work and the business moved to the newly opened Seacroft Shopping Centre, one of the first out of town shopping centres to be built. This proved to be a very successful move. The new shop was very busy which meant Hilda and Tommy and Peter's wives and their children (after school and school holidays) worked very hard together with a dedicated team of loyal staff of four men, one of which is Paul Thompson who is still working within the business today. The shop enjoyed 27 great years serving the local community and sometimes not so local, with customers coming from far and wide to have their shoes repaired.

In 1990 the two brothers opened their second unit at the Moor Allerton Shopping Centre. Peter, along with his wife and their youngest son, Paul, who had now joined the business, worked in the new shop. News that the Seacroft Shopping Centre was to be demolished prompted the brothers to open a third branch on 10th May 1995 in Crossgates .The Seacroft shop closed in 1997. Tommy at this point was at the age of retirement, his daughter Maria who had joined the business earlier took over his interest and together with Peter and Paul began to look for their third shop. They found a unit in the market town of Wetherby and today this has developed into a vibrant shoe repairers. Maria's son, Tom joined the business after leaving University and under careful watch of his grandfather learnt the skills of the trade.

In 2005 the family decided to have a presence in the centre of Leeds and in September 2006 their flagship store opened at 161 The Headrow, directly opposite Leeds Town Hall. How proud Tom Craggs would have been to have a store in the Headrow. This store also retails high quality Gentlemen's shoes, leather goods as well as providing an excellent shoe repairing, keycutting and engraving service.

In 2009 we opened our latest store in Ilkley in a double fronted shop offering our usual repair service will plenty of retail space for our new shoe collections, luggage and Hunter Wellies.