Pete The Pom Shoe Repairs

Pete The Pom, a Cockney of 35-​odd years residence in Australia and has all the Cockney banter of a stereotypical market stall holder. If he was Irish, it would be referred to as «blarney». Women are called «my lovely», blokes are «squire». Love it or hate it, Pete and his banter are a Hornsby institution.
Pete has been in a funny little shop in The Piazza on the Hornsby Mall for decades, and anyone who is serious about getting their shoes repaired goes to him.
Pete and his son, who works with him, really know their stuff. I took in 2 pairs of shoes belonging to my elderly mother, where the base of the heel had worn off. All have been beautifully repaired and the shoes cleaned up. More importantly, where she’d used one pair long after the heels came off, and worn them down badly, he has ground them down slightly to balance them out, so she won’t fall while wearing them. All for the princely sum of $ 23.
On other occasions, Pete has resurrected Dave’s boots, long after anyone else (including me) has given up on them. He is also a true master at his trade. I have a leg length imbalance that requires me to wear a heel raiser in one shoe. That doesn’t look so flash in strappy, silver evening sandals, so I took them to Pete to see what could be done. He ended up taking 6 mm off the other heel, reshaping the shank to fit the heel height and then finishing them off. I don’t remember what I paid, but I do remember that it was surprisingly little.
Don’t let the banter put you off (or enjoy it for the experience). Don’t let the small and cramped shop put you off. Pete The Pom is a true craftsman.

Pete the pom is a Hornsby institution. He’s been in the same location (a tiny shop, right at the back of an arcade off the Florence St Mall for 28 years. Prior to that he was in another location in Hornsby. All up he has been repairing the shoes of Hornsby for the past 35 years. Apparently he arrived from the UK and went to look at a shop in Chatswood but fell asleep on the train, ended up in Hornsby and never left. At least that’s the story he tells.
He tells a lot of stories. Part of the Pete The Pom experience is the patter. A constant stream of stories and general chatter in fluent cockney (35 years here has done nothing to dull the cockney accent). Gents are called Squire. Ladies are referred to as Darlin or Luv.
The other part of the experience is the tiny little shop, packed to the roof with kicknacks and memorabilia. And yes, he does have a story about each and every piece. Even the shoe repair machinery has a story — it came over from England with him and dates back to his Father and Grandfather’s time (he’s from a long line of cobblers).
A visit to Pete the Pom is an experience.
Oh yeah… and he also repairs shoes. Really, really well. If it can be fixed, he will fix it. If it can’t be fixed, he will probably manage to fix it anyway. And cheaply too. Usually the dodgy shoe repair kiosks in Westfield will charge more for a worse job.