Shoe repair shop that was at 5 Upper Green West, Mitcham.

Clip of photo taken by Eric Montague in 1972. Reproduced by kind permission of the Merton Historical Society. Image reference mhs-em-ug-28

In the 1971 phone book the number was 01-648 8821.

ad from the 1987 Mitcham Diary

clip from 1962 photo on Merton Memories, copyright London Borough of Merton.

1952 OS map

Ricky posted this photo of himself by his dad’s van, on the Mitcham History group on Facebook. His father worked as a shoe repairer at Speedways, and his mother worked there as well as a supervisor.

I contacted Ricky via Facebook who gave more information about the shop:

I’m not sure when it closed down was still there late 90s.

The reason it was called Speedway was because Uncle George Yianarri, who was the owner, was into his Speedway (wasn’t a pro). He knew all the riders and they came to the shop to have their boots and leathers repaired, they wore football boots in those days with studs removed and a metal plate fixed to the left one. Uncle George used to take me to Wimbledon stadium when I was a boy, we used to get in for nothing and let me sit on Ronnie Moore bike and Barry Briggs. Speedway shops were in a few towns, Mitcham, Colliers Wood, Putney, Old Kent Road, Tooting Market, Wimbledon.

Maps are reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland.