The Shoe Museum

The Shoe Museum stands in Street, a town in Somerset, England. It began in 1974 inside the oldest part of the Clarks factory, where the company had made shoes since the 1820s. The museum once welcomed about 45,000 visitors each year without charging admission. Clarks moved production overseas after 2000, but the company’s headquarters remain in Street, behind a clock tower and water tower. The firm also built a school, theatre, library, swimming pool and town hall in the 19th century to support local people. In 1993, parts of the factory became Clarks Village, a shopping area. The museum’s collection was transferred to the Alfred Gillett Trust before it closed in 2019. A new Shoemakers Museum opened in September 2025 at The Grange, a Grade II listed Georgian manor house. A modern brick building designed by Purcell Architects now stands beside the manor, joined to a medieval barn. The Alfred Gillett Trust created a café in the manor house to welcome visitors alongside the new museum. The project makes the historic shoe collections accessible once more. Inside the Shoemakers Museum, visitors find displays of shoes and boots made over two centuries. The manor house rooms show how the Clark family supported education and culture in Street. The new building’s contemporary design contrasts with the Georgian architecture, while the medieval barn adds an older layer to the site. The café offers refreshments in the manor house, linking past and present. The whole complex sits behind the familiar Clarks clock tower and water tower.