Ken Hall Footwear Ltd (Formerly Newman And Sons)

This is a boot and shoe factory, constructed around 1873 for M. Newman and Sons. It is built of orange-red brick with stone ashlar dressings, and has slate hipped roofs with deep eaves supported by shaped stone eaves brackets. The design is in an Italianate style. The building is three stories high, with the entrance bay rising as a belvedere tower. The front façade has seven windows, featuring cast-iron frames with round-arched heads to ground floor windows and segmental arches above, each with a raised key block. Raised storey bands and quoins are present. The central right bay slightly projects, featuring a round-arched moulded stone doorcase, the keyblock carved with a 'N'. A similar twelve-window front extends to the right, and the fronts facing the interior yard are similar but without the stone dressings. A north-light shed infilled the yard by 1924. Inside, iron columns support the timber beams of the floors, and a king-post roof construction is present. The interior layout is typical for a boot and shoe factory, with making rooms below, a closing room above, and a finishing room on the top floor. The factory was built for Newman and Sons around 1873 and they were still operating there in 1906. In 1924, the factory was extended to the west, and the yard was infilled. In 1929, George Essain and Co occupied the premises, followed by Bignell Ltd in 1937, both also boot and shoe manufacturers. The current occupants, Ken Hall Footwear Ltd, began production there in the 1990s. The factory is considered one of the earliest large boot and shoe factories in Kettering and reflects a fashionable style for such buildings in the town. It is notable as one of the earliest surviving factories still producing footwear and retaining its traditional interior.