About – I Made That!

George Hurst and John Hedley were the great-grandfathers of the current owners of the business. We employ the same traditional skills and techniques both would have been familiar with.

George Hurst was a horse-drawn Hackney Cab driver in late Victorian London. George came from Bermondsey, the part of London specialised in tanneries and the leather trade. Historical signs still remain in buildings and street signs that survive to this day.

John Hedley, originally from Cumbria, was a local police officer in Darwen, just North of Bolton, where we are located, around the same time in a time where horse-drawn transport was at its height. Bolton’s leather trade was thriving at this time and William Walker & Sons were dominant in the area in the second half of the 19th Century. Bolton’s Rose Hill Tannery was still in operation in the late 1970’s processing 6,000 hides a week before sadly closing. The tannery building itself survived until demolition in 2008.

Around the UK today, only a handful of tanneries and leather merchants remain, producing possibly the finest quality leather in the world in our opinion but in much smaller quantities. As to leather workers, they have dwindled in number as factories in China churn out mass produced “leather” items, but a few remain and are leading a vibrant and creative resurgence of what is now an artisan industry.

Hurst Hedley uses the finest British and Italian hides and traditional methods to produce quality leather goods that are designed to last another century. Our belts are made from veg tanned full grain bridle leather sourced from reputable tanneries and merchants. Our smaller items may also use unique leathers from around the world that catch our eye when ferreting around in warehouses looking for something different whether it be scarring or colour or texture. When you buy a Hurst Hedley product you know no-one else has exactly the same thing.