FROM the age of 15 he has helped to heel the great and good of Oxford.

But this week, after half a century of repairing shoes in the city, Joe Boyce will hang up his cobbler’s apron for the last time.

Mr Boyce, who celebrates his 65th birthday on Thursday, has been working at Brambles, formerly W D Smith and Sons, in Headington, since he left school in 1961.

In that time, the shoesmith has served thousands of Oxford residents, from Oxford University professors, to policemen, to one of the Queen’s cousins.

He remembers during the 1980s when he was tasked with repairing the boots for the Oxford United squad, during the time when Gary Briggs and Malcolm Shotton played for the U’s.

The grandfather-of-one, who lives in Bernwood Road, Barton, said one of his earliest jobs in the 1960s was taking a repair order for a pair of winkle pickers for a man who then spent the next three years at ‘Her Majesty’s Pleasure’.

He said: “When he got out he came straight to me to ask me if I had done the job.

“I told him they would be finished the next day.”

Mr Boyce, who is originally from County Wexford in Ireland, said he was inspired to go into the shoe repair trade by his great uncle.

He had become an orthopaedic shoemaker after he was shot in the First World War.

He said: “It is in my blood I suppose. It has changed over the years, I do not think they make shoes like they used to.

“But I think the trade is still going strong.

“The shop has been repairing shoes for the people of Oxford since 1914, and we are still serving the families of those original customers.”

Mr Boyce intends to spend his retirement with his wife Shirley, 63, their daughter Tracey, 35, and two-year-old granddaughter Amy.

But he said he would miss his work at the shop dearly.

“I have loved it over the years,” he said.

“I like speaking to the ladies and gentlemen when they come in.

“I get to see lots of lovely people and hear their stories.

“I will miss the people the most.”