Today the cobblers in Llandrindod Wells, I. J. Jones & Sons, will close its doors after over 100 years of service, as the family’s last cobbler retires.

Ken Jones was left to run the family business by himself, which is located behind Osborne House on Temple Street, after both his father, and later his brother, passed away.

It has been 18 months since the death of his brother, Gordon “cobbler” Jones, who died aged 84.

Ken said: “I’ve been here for years and years.

“My brother used to do the serving and I’d always be out back.

“Now I have to do it all.

“I’m not coping with it.”

Ken said that the job requires him to work from 8am to 10pm to get all the work done in time, and he's exhausted from it. “I just want to get out,” he said.

With no one wanting to take on the profession, the century-old family business has had to come to a close. "My daughters are not interested [in running the business], not at all.

"They've got their own little jobs," he said.

Ken has mixed feelings about his retirement and the closure of the business. He said: “It’s sad in some ways and good in others.”

The business has always stayed in the family, since it was first set up by Isaac Jones back in 1901. It was in the September of that year that the shop opened. Ken decided that he would retire, and the shop would close, in that same month, 117 years later.

The closure of I. J. Jones & Sons is a sad moment for many. Cobblers were once commonplace on the high street, and now, Ken says, it's a "dying" profession.

His shop was one of the only ones left in Mid Wales. Customers from the Llandrindod Wells and Powys area as a whole will now have to travel much further afield to get their shoes serviced. Ken has recommended that his customers travel to cobblers in Aberystwyth or Hereford for all their future shoe repair needs.

On Wednesday night the mayor of Llandrindod Well, Jon Williams, held a special ceremony for Ken's retirement in the town.