Heavy discounts as unique Cotswolds shop to close imminently

Cotswold Woollen Weavers has said it is offering “heavily discounted” products as its permanent closure at the end of May approaches.

On social media, the popular West Oxfordshire business said there was a rail of sports coats and jackets currently available.

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It said: “We are still heading towards ‘closing to the public’ at the end of May, and we have a rail of sports coats/jackets in a variety of wool and other natural fibres…and all heavily discounted.

“We are open 10am to 6pm every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Do please drop in…still a lot of stock, and all discounted.”

The shop is the last place in in the Cotswolds where traditional wool textiles are still made and has operated from a historic 18th century barn in the village of Filkins since 1982.

A loom used in traditional weaving (Image: NQ)

As well as the store, the site includes a café and museum, and throughout its life has been run by 73-year-old Richard Martin.

On why the business is closing, he said: “Partly because I’m older, and partly because things change and one thinks about other things.

“I’ve been very pleased to do it here, I’ve had a good life and a good time doing what we’re doing, but I guess things change.”

Richard Martin, owner of Cotswold Woollen Weavers, at Witney Blanket Hall in 2015 (Image: NQ)

For the past 15 years, Mr Martin’s wife Trish has joined him working in the Cotswolds, and the two of them saw the opening of the Witney Blanket Hall on the town’s High Street in 2015.

The blanket hall served as the historic workshop and heart of the Witney blanket trade for some 120 years from 1721, and was reinstated as a culture and heritage centre, and a seller of woven wool blankets, by the Cotswolds company.

Witney Blanket Hall will remain open when Cotswold Woollen Weavers closes, as will Mr Martin’s other weaving business in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, which continues making wool with traditional techniques and has supplied the Cotswolds business for the past five years.

Mr Martin said: “We wove at Cotswold Woollen Weavers for 35 years but stopped that full time about five or so years ago.

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“It was principally because I either had to do everything myself or teach people from scratch – there’s no one around who can already weave or spin.

“Any of the weavers you bring down from West Yorkshire or Wales just can’t afford the house prices here in the Cotswolds – they’re two or three times the price as over there.”

Even so, the Cotswolds centre has remained the hub for the business, where Mr Martin has designed the textiles, produced samples, and greeted visitors.