Riverside

K Shoes used to be a major employer in Kendal. You can read about its history here but it's said that, at its peak, the company "employed 20% of the working population of Kendal and had at least one member of every family in the town on its books".

Ten years ago, when we were looking for our first offices, we were shown around a small building, almost a house, on the Riverside Business Park. The chap showing me around said it was the canteen for the old K Shoes factory, which didn't mean much to me at the time. It wasn't yet converted but I said we'd take it when it was ready and, for a while, that old canteen was my office.

A while later, the same chap showed me around a huge hall on the first floor of the building next to our offices. This was where the shoes were made. The raw materials entered at one end and production progressed as one moved through the huge space. There were still rails in the floor, which the carts were pushed along, as well as bits of kit lying around and it struck me that it would have been lovely to lock the doors and preserve it just as it was.

But time doesn't stand still, at least not for old commercial properties, and the space was divided into three, and then converted to offices. We lease the one nearest the river (which means we have beautiful views). Arguably, it's a bigger space that we need but I really like having the large, open plan office and I particularly enjoy the high ceilings. (I thought it would be a nightmare to heat but it isn't.)

These two windows are up near the ceiling and you can see how thick our walls are. Today was properly autumnal and although we had the lights on, you can see the blue skies and the light coming in from outside, as well as the old beams.