Waterman's leather shop at 35 Cinque Ports Street may need to be sold unless the proprietor can regain his health.
The business' owner Patrick Browne, 70, says he's currently waiting for a follow-up NHS procedure. "If the operation's a success, then I won't be retiring!" he declares.
While the shop is currently not for sale, Patrick recognises the possibility that such action may be forced upon him. There have been some tentative enquiries from parties interested in acquiring the shop and its stock — with the chance, if it comes to it, of a new owner retaining the Waterman's trading name.
The shop is familiar to local people as well as visitors. It has long boasted a wide array of leather products — including belts, wallets, purses, briefcases, bags, hats and gloves — and repairs to leather goods were also carried out until recently.
"It's surprisingly very well-known internationally," Patrick reveals. Customers from as far afield as the US and Australia have been known to get in touch to buy replacement items, such as moccasins, for instance. On one occasion a new leather cover for a 1942 boxing punch ball was made and supplied to an American client.
Owing to an oversupply, a stock clearance sale is currently being held at the shop.
Before the Cinque Ports Street shop was opened in 2020, the business was owned and run for several decades by Patrick's old friend Gerry Waterman in a premises in Lion Street — ending up being a leather goods shop for more than 40 years.
"We've not recovered from the Covid years yet. Traders' costs have certainly gone up," Patrick says.
