Bill Bird Shoes was founded by Bill in 1987 after 11 years in the shoemaking trade in London’s West End, where he learnt the basis of the skills he used to build the original small shoemaking business. We work from an 80 year old Nissan hut in the Cotswolds, the original small business is now a thriving limited company. The skilled team of shoemakers you will meet and work with at each fitting stage have all been apprenticed to Bill through out their time in the company. All of them have been trained for many years in the intricacies of Bespoke Orthopaedic work under Bill’s experienced hand. All of our footwear footwear is handmade to order using many traditional shoemaking techniques and processes to your individual specifications and footwear order in our beautifully located Cotswold workshop. We select and use only the highest quality materials and components from across Europe and the world. Our love and passion for our craft drives our quest to develop our skills creating beautifully traditionally made orthopaedic footwear designed with distinctive and modern twists. Appointments are held from our quirky Nissan hut situated on Northwick Business Centre just outside Moreton-in-Marsh, we are nestled within the beautiful Cotswold countryside, blessed with lots of flowers and wildlife, you might even catch sight of our little muntjac deer. You will however be certain to meet our Mash, our workshop cat. Our passion for our business runs deeply as we work hard to maintain our antique workshop and tools. The business centre is based on the former grounds of Northwick House. Originally the site was built as a hospital for World War 2, in order to help the injured servicemen following the D-day landings. After the war the site continued to be occupied, as many Polish families that had been displaced from their homes due to the war and the site became their home, you can still find the memorial on site today. Over the years Bill has developed the units to become hives of shoemaking activity and today we are working hard as a team to continue this development, maintenance and modernisation. Bill himself has now stepped back from the day to day running of the business but is still delighted to be involved as a consultant and mentor.

William Robert Bird, better know to many as Bill Bird has been making Shoe and Boot trees and handmade footwear for over 50 years. Although now a British citizen, he originally hails from Canada.

First coming to England with his family as a teenager in the 1960’s, Bill spent time at school and then completing his education. By the late 1970’s Bill had began his apprenticeship and career as shoe and boot tree maker for Peen’s in London, they made the shoe and boot trees for John Lobb in the West End of London. It was here Bill spent many hours learning the craft from his masters.

Bill’s passion for working with his hands and crafting things out of wood combined with his own ‘funny feet’ foot deformity, was what led him on his own footwear quest and  journey. Working and learning to create footwear Lasts and footwear that could alleviate his own symptoms and issues.

This learning and journey has led us to the place we are today, having set up his own business, sharing his skills to help other people experience alleviated pain, reducing symptoms of discomfort, helping them to walk with pleasure again.

He has now passed the business to his team, his former apprentices to continue his work to help create footwear to help people, with foot conditions as he passes his skills and knowledge to other students within the industry.

Northwick Business Centre is unique, with its origins dating back to the Second World War. Originally built in 1943 as an American field hospital in anticipation of D-Day, Northwick Park Camp soon after became a Prisoner Of War hospital under the supervision of the International Red Cross. After the War, the camp was abandoned until 1947-8 when it was turned into a Polish resettlement camp, and many displaced Polish families made their home there until the 1960s. Relatives of these families still come to visit the site and to lay flowers for their late loved ones at the War Memorial.

Zosia Biegus Hartman has written extensively about life at the camp from her own experiences. You read all about it here