Cobblers

I had a hand tooled leather guitar strap I wanted turning into a belt. It has a lot of sentimental value. I tried Clever With Leather in Brighton and they were rude so I walked out.
I tried cobblers and to be honest my first impressions were mixed. The man who does the repairs was quite brusque, and seemed a bit confused initially about the job. His wife was a little more patient trying to understand what I wanted.
I left it with them and they said tthey’d call me. After 3 weeks I’d not heard anything, called them and was told to chase them up later that week. I finally picked it up after it being there a month and was nervous to see how it had turned out.
Have to say though the work is excellent. Very high quality stitching and he’d even top stitched some areas where straps had been removed so that it looked neat and you couldn’t see the holes. The buckle is sturdy and fastened so well and neatly to the leather. I absolutely love that I can now wear this as a belt.
I would say that if you don’t mind a bit of brusqueness, and have the patience to explain what you need (and don’t mind chasing them up) then this place is worth checking out. Definitely better than Clever With Leather. Very happy with the work!

I visited Cobblers the other day while taking a leisurely turn around Lewes. The place seems a little odd I might even go so far as to say it borderlines the shambolic. The general feel of the place is not too dissimilar to the kind of place you might read about in a Hans Christian Anderson tale, but it seems to have been achieved unintentionally. This isn’t what lured me in though.
I have been having trouble for some time finding someone who can replace the zips on my 1970s leather jacket. I managed to get the Ironing shop in have to replace the main zip but they said that they didn’t want to see my jacket back it there again after the sheer thickness of the leather broke five of their needles.
The mad old lady in Cobblers seemed to think that they would be able to do it but was a little wary of saying when or how much. Apparently if you do require service of this nature you are to go in on «any day except Wednesday or Sunday, he’s even in on a Saturday sometimes», so maybe any day except Wednesday or the weekend is a safer bet. This might sound preposterous but in comparison to the ordeal I’ve had trying to get a place in Brighton to do it this is good service.