Shoemaker’s shop left untouched for 60 years being restored

By Elizabeth Hunter

The last shoemaker shop in Scotland is set to be saved and restored - after being left untouched for 60 years.

The Souter's Shop opened in 1897 and was run by local shoemaker James Merchant and his son until the 1940s, when the business closed.

It was left with its tools, ledgers, and fittings frozen in time, until it was rediscovered in 1999.

Now under the ownership of Birse Community Trust, it has been awarded $74,500 from Historic Environment Scotland to repair and restore the historic site in Birse, Aberdeenshire.

Repairs are needed on the roof, timber, chimney and the joinery glazing, and the interior will also be opened to visitors on site and across the globe with a virtual exhibition and online tour.

The funding, provided through the Historic Environments Grants Program, will also support traditional skills training, ensuring that the shop’s features are restored using techniques similar to those employed when it was originally built.

Listed as a category A building in 2000, the Souter’s Shop is recognized as nationally significant and the only known example of its kind in Scotland.

The building and its contents show a world before commercial, mass-produced shoemaking became prevalent, and the Birse Community Trust plans to use the building to explain the historic shoemaking tradition and its place in rural industry.

Remarkably, even the shop’s business ledgers have survived, giving insight into the role of the shop as well as the surrounding communities.

Dr. Susan O’Connor, Head of Grants at HES, said: “The Souter’s Shop in Birse is a fascinating building with an important story to tell.

"We are excited to support the Trust's efforts to unlock this story with the community and the wider public.

"Our historic environment is one of Scotland’s greatest assets, but it needs care, investment and collaboration to thrive.

"Our grants programs are available to help communities unlock the history, knowledge and progress that is embodied in the built heritage around them.”

Toni Watt, Manager at Birse Community Trust, said: “BCT are absolutely delighted to receive such generous funding from Historic Environment Scotland.

"This grant together with support from other funders and from many individuals, means that we are able to start work to save the Souter’s Workshop and Shop.

"It is such a special place. To enter the Souter’s feels like you are stepping back in time.

"It is a window into a now-disappeared way of life, showcasing the life of a souter and his role in rural society.

“At one time every settlement would have had a Souter; our visitors tell us about grandparents who were souters, but in a few more generations this tradition will be lost from memory.

"History, oral history and saving the rural architecture where this history takes place matter so much.”

Work is now starting to train volunteers to pack and decant the collection of artifacts in the Souter’s Shop, as well as basic conservation work.

Repair works on the building will begin in spring 2026.