Friday 13th February 2026  

Quorn village cobbler works a full day at 79

Loughborough Monitor - 1st May 1959.

In a small dark room off Station Road you will find Mr Jack Payne who, at 79, has been the village cobbler for 65 years. When I called at his workshop he was knocking hob-nails into a pair of boots he had just repaired. He had a mouth full of nails and when he had used them, he commented: "I can't ever remember swallowing one". Then he plunged his hand into a sackful of nails and popped them into his mouth, which put an end to conversation.

With 65 years experience behind him, it would be an unforgivable sin if a man of Jack Payne's calibre swallowed a nail. He still continues to work a full day on the shoes and boots sent to him by people from miles around. In days gone by he made shoes himself, but today sticks to repairing.

Asked how he liked Quorn, he replied: "All right! But I don't know because I've never lived in another village," and he went on repairing the shoes of the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of his first customers.

Submitted on: 2010-01-15 Submitted by: Kathryn Paterson Artefact ID: 716 Artefact URL: www.quornmuseum.com/display.php?id=716 Print: View artefact in printer-friendly page or just on its own (new browser tab).