Laces Boxing Club feels privileged to be housed in a building with such rich history and character. The story started back in 1887 when Robert James Stokes father persuaded him to quit his newspaper delivery round for an apprenticeship with J. F. Smith, a paint and varnish merchant in Wrexham. After 7 years and in 1895, Robert James Stokes was tasked with opening a new shop in Sheffield. He found Sheffield a friendly place and its where he met his future wife, Sabina. He was so taken with the city that he made the decision to leave his employer and set up in business himself on Cambridge Street, Sheffield. It was no easy task and with little money to spare the shelves were cunningly stocked with empty tins to give the impression of a successful business 😉. This illusion worked, the shop prospered and in 1903 Robert opened a second in Packers Row, Chesterfield. Three years later trade had outgrown the small Cambridge Street shop and Robert moved to a larger premises in 1913. The business had succeeded by selling paints and varnish manufactured by others!

After the First World War with trade in a healthy state, a decision was made to manufacture their own products. To this end, land on Little London Road in Sheffield was bought and in 1921 a paint mill and varnish kitchen were up and running, a building that Laces now calls home.

With tensions bubbling in Europe disruption was ahead and the second world war was looming and change was on the horizon. When the war escalated many of Stokes employees were called up immediately and others followed. Stokes was eventually scheduled under an "Essential Works Order", this meant they were able to retain the remainder of their staff, thankfully. By order of the Ministry of Supply all private sales of decorating materials were stopped, with the exception of those to be used to repair blitz damage, interestingly the company was appointed to manufacture camouflage paint to help protect the steel works, they also supplied many other Army and Air Force units. As with many towns and cities, Sheffield was heavily bombed during the war. The paint factory which is now our gym was hit by German bombs on the night of May 9th. 1941. As you can see from the picture below, extensive damage was caused by these bombs and the subsequent fires. The No. 1 Paint Mill and the stockroom and contents were all destroyed, half a lifetime's work seemingly ruined in a single night. Mr Stokes not being one to give in decided that there was no time to waste. Impressively, the next morning Robert Stokes was in the builder's offices, planning for the rebuild. Permission had to be obtained for the work, but given the importance of the factory to the war effort the Reconstruction Panel of the Ministry of Supply allocated labour and raw materials and the work was completed in an astounding six months. The factory went on to produce high quality products for many years to come. However, innovations in paint production meant that the factory ceased to produce paint here and the building lay derelict for many years. This would later become an opportunity for Laces Boxing Club…..

Fast forward to November 2019 and to our old premises….

After several years of plugging leaks in the roof of our old gym and shadow boxing around buckets 🪣 💦 the building succumbed to mother nature and we had to close our doors. In retrospect the gym was not fit for purpose for many years and seemed to be shut more than it was open at times. Moving was overdue!

Laces started with a primary vision of offering a welcoming, low cost gym to the community, a place for children to increase confidence, improve fitness and have fun. Steadfast in that vision the search was on for a new premise. A few weeks passed and we weren’t sure if we would find a new home and our attentions turned closer to home and we were invited to view the mysterious old factory across the road. Excitement was brewing, we had a chance, a lifeline! Then we were greeted with this ⬇️