HE has served the Govanhill community for more than 30 years... but now Gerry Fleming - aka The Cobbler - is shutting up shop.

Gerry, who says he "fell into" his career, has built up a loyal customer base in three decades on Calder Street.

And locals were dismayed when the news spread The Cobbler would be no more.

From chatting to regulars about current affairs and philosophy to carrying out some unusual repair requests, Gerry has made a name for himself locally - and further afield.

Irish dance shoes are sent to him from as far away as Australia due to his name as the best in the business.

But the 56-year-old is self-taught and has developed his trade over the years.

Gerry did a two-year engineering apprenticeship but decided there was little future in that path as the shipyards were going through dark times.

The South Side shop has been a cobblers for around 70 years and was previously owned by a Jewish man called Ben Silver who came to Glasgow after World War II.

Gerry said: "Myself and my brother happened to be passing one day and it was a big sign outside saying "For Rent". Someone had taken over after Ben Silver left but they only lasted three months before deciding it wouldn't be a goer so we took it over. That was that.

He added: "We went to see the landlord, who's a really good guy and now more like family than your landlord.

"When we came in here there was the original machine and the counter.

"The machine was goosed. No one had ever seen fit to oil the damn thing because the bearings were all locked but it did us for a year before we could afford a new one."

Gerry is renowned for going above and beyond to carry out repairs - "Except lights. I don't know why people keep coming in with lights."

I put one story to Gerry that I heard from a local customer - and it's not fit for print - to which he replies with a smile, "That's quite possible."

One customer who stands out is a chap who came in with a highly unusual request.

Gerry said: "A guy wanted me to make him a three-fingered glove. Let me put it this way, he had five fingers.

"So I made it, but I didn't want to know."

He also remembers the days of repairing waders for men filling in the mine works and repairing sewers around Govanhill.

He added: "You had to bleach your hands when you got home. They were rank. Still, it was worse for them, having to actually be down there."

One of things Gerry will miss is his regular customers, who he has all sorts of conversations with.

Gerry said: "I've no regrets about doing all this time here. I've made a lot of pals, met some really interesting folk.

"I've got quite a few folk come in and we're big on politics, big on the nature of reality.

"How do you go from reheeling shoes to the nature of the universe and quantum physics?

"Well, I'm game for talking about anything."

He has also seen a lot of changes in the area since he opened.

Gerry, who married his wife in 1985, said: "Govanhill when I moved in was an honest, working class place.

"There was a large Asian population and everyone was just doing their best to get by.

"It did go downhill for quite a bit, we just seemed to be hoaching with drug users everywhere.

"They actually stole a lighter from here one time. It was on a chain and I took the guts out of it but it had a picture of me engraved on it.

"Imagine trying to sell that round a pub, people are going 'And who is this guy? And where's the rest of the lighter? Totally bizarre.'

But I think the area is on the up. There's nothing wrong with having a melting pot.

"I definitely think Govanhill's on the way back up but I won't be here to see it.

"Victoria Road seems to be on the up so that's a good start."

Having had a successful business for nearly three decades, things took a downward turn four years ago.

Gerry said he came back from his Christmas holidays in 2014 to find renovation work had started with scaffolding, skips and a Portacabin outside the shop.

Customers assumed The Cobbler had closed and, he said, the word spread, which has been impossible to recover from.

He said: "That did for the place and it's never recovered. It's a like a pebble in a pond. The rumours spread and people don't come because they think you're shut and before you know it, you're shut."

Gerry is now going to be a bus driver, and spend more time with his family.

He has two daughters: his eldest is finishing a PhD and his youngest is finishing a Masters degree, both in genetics.

Gerry added: "This year has just been grim. We could hang on til next year as a push but unless it improved dramatically we would be ruined.

"You're really stubborn because it's your business and you don't want to see it going down the tubes but there's no room for dewy-eyed sentimentalism.

"I will miss the shop but I have no regrets."