Shoe firm boss hits out as £19m expansion plans rejected

The boss of York shoe company Pavers has said he needs to “reassess” the company’s relationship with the city after councillors rejected its £19m plan to extend a warehouse.

Stuart Paver, joint managing director of shoe firm Pavers, said the company “desperately needed” expansion along with a separate extension for new office space.

The expansion would have represented a £19m investment and would bring 130 jobs to the city, Paver said.

Recent growth has seen Pavers’ retail portfolio grow to more than 180 stores and boosted online sales by 700% in the last three years.

The company currently relies on additional off-site warehousing and storage requirements are expected to double over the next five years.

Paver said: “As a York-based family business we are proud of our association with York and how we’ve managed to grow from a £200 loan my mother took out in the 1970s to the company we are today, but we need to keep growing.”

The company currently sells five million pairs of shoes a year, but the extension would allow them to sell 16-18 million, Paver said.

He said: “We really want to continue to build our business and relationships within York. We don’t want to become one of the long list of successful companies that have had to find another home.”

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