John Lobb wants to leave Westminster Works for a new 4,831 sqm factory behind Horizon House, St Peter's Way. Comments close 15 Oct; decision due 18 Nov.
John Lobb, the bootmaker founded in 1849, has applied to build a new factory on the derelict former gas works site at St Peter’s Way. It would move its Northampton workshop out of Westminster Works on Oliver Street, which it says it has outgrown.
The application was received by West Northamptonshire Council on 19 August. Public comments are due by 15 October, and the target decision date is 18 November. It will be decided by a planning committee rather than by officers. (WNC planning register, 2026/3642/MAF)
What the plans include
The application is for full planning permission. According to the planning statement submitted with it, the scheme includes:
- a new factory workshop of 4,831 sqm, part single-storey and part two-storey, attached to the back of Horizon House
- Horizon House itself, the derelict Victorian former gas company office, refurbished as 545 sqm of offices after 255 sqm of later extensions and stairs are demolished
- a 162 sqm John Lobb shop near the entrance, open 9am to 5pm, with Sunday opening mainly for about two sales a year
- 61 car parking spaces, five of them accessible and eight with electric charging, plus 44 cycle spaces
- a changed access from Towcester Road, with the left-in junction moved slightly east
The factory roof uses a ridge-and-valley shape the architects say is “derived from traditional Northampton shoe factory typologies”. Roof lights are placed to light benches where “fine motor skills are required”. (Planning statement, Lichfields for John Lobb, August 2026)
Jobs
The current factory employs 104 staff, and the application form lists 104 full-time employees for the new site. The planning statement goes further: “in the long term, JL expect to hire 100-150 new staff.”
All 104 current staff took part in a travel survey in June, and the company says their feedback on the move was positive.
Why the company wants to move
The planning statement says Westminster Works “was not originally designed or purpose-built for boot making or contemporary manufacturing”. It lists the problems:
- work spread over three floors, so materials and shoes constantly go up and down stairs
- congested workspaces and poor daylight, ventilation and acoustics
- noise, dust and deliveries that are hard to manage inside the building
- little room to expand on a tight town-centre plot
The application does not say what will happen to Westminster Works once the company leaves.
A derelict landmark brought back
Horizon House is a locally listed building. The old gas works boundary wall along St Peter’s Way is locally listed too. The planning statement describes the building’s windows and doors as boarded up, with graffiti and damage.
Council officers gave the plans a broadly positive reception at pre-application stage in May. Their advice, quoted in the statement, called the retention of Horizon House “positive and of heritage benefit”. It described the workshop extension as “relatively large” but “well designed and sympathetic to the industrial history of the shoe industry”.
When it would open
The draft construction plan sets out an indicative timetable. A main contractor would be appointed in April 2027, with work on site from May 2027 and practical completion in December 2028. Building work would run from 7.30am to 6pm on weekdays and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays. (Draft Construction Environmental Management Plan, section 4.1)
What it means for you
- You can comment until 15 October. Search the council’s planning register for 2026/3642/MAF. Because a committee will decide it, the council says it will accept comments up to the start of the committee meeting, but advises getting them in early.
- Drivers on Towcester Road should expect highway works at the site entrance once building starts, which on the current plan is not before May 2027.
- For the town, it keeps one of Northampton’s best-known shoemakers in Northampton, on a brownfield site at the southern gateway to the centre. Keep up with other schemes on our Northampton planning news page.
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