Eatoughs Ltd operated a prominent shoe and slipper manufacturing factory in Burton-on-Trent, which was part of a larger footwear firm founded by Oliver Eatough in 1919.

It was expanded from a factory in Rossendale Valley, Lancashire, which only manufactured slippers. Wanting to largely expand into a full range of leather footwear, Eatough established factories in Earl Shilton, Syston, Coalville, and Burton-on-Trent.

In 1924, Eatoughs Ltd moved its Burton operations from a small factory in Branston into the much larger Allsopp and Sons’ former brewery building on High Street, opposite the Burton Mail office building, when it became vacant.

By the 1930s, the firm employed around 1,000 workers across its sites and was known for industrial innovations like introducing ‘Music while you work’ broadcasts in 1936, and during WW II, it producing specialized clothing for electrically heated flying suits worn bomber crews.

The two photographs taken in 1946 show that it was a major employer in the town with a workforce of several hundred.

Eatoughs was finally closed 977