24/05/2026
Before it became our new office, 58 Fore Street had already lived a very full life — and we mean very full.
This stretch of Kingsbridge has been a buzzing hub of trade, chat, and community for well over a century, and this building has seen it all.
📜 Back in the 1840s, it was already part of the town’s retail heartbeat, with early traders like Shillabear setting up shop. Fast forward a few decades and you’ll find G.D. Lidstone, a hosier and haberdasher, keeping Fore Street well stocked with all things fashion and footwear.
👞 Then came a long-standing local favourite… shoes!
From 1897 onwards, Mrs Ellen Brown kicked off what became a decades-long legacy of footwear at this very address. The Browns — later E. Brown & Co — became something of a Fore Street institution. If you needed boots, this was the place.
📷 Old photos show Fore Street changing through the years — from quiet early postcard scenes to full-on street celebrations packed with flags, bunting, and crowds (possibly even royal jubilee festivities). It’s fair to say this building has seen Kingsbridge at its most festive.
👠 As the decades rolled on, the shop evolved but stayed true to retail life — from E. Brown & Co to later becoming home to Herring Shoes, continuing its footwear legacy right into the modern day.
📍 And now… here we are.
We’re proud (and a little bit in awe) to be the next chapter at 58 Fore Street — a building that’s been everything from haberdashery heaven to shoe empire central.
We’ll do our best to live up to the history… though we can’t promise quite as many boots 🤍
