I see many properties when I walk arond my local town which still has its midlands industrial roots very much in evidence.  Although none  of the shoe factories are producing anything these days, in the late Victorian period and right up until the late 1990s, there was a very strong shoe and boot making presence in the towns around here.    There are still one or two pockets of activity, in canalside mills and factories.  The old brick mills left behind have been snapped up for residential purposes.  There are one or two which have been repurposed for small starter units and in fact a few co-operative ventures have taken over some prime locations.  Keeping the heritage alive has been difficult for some – who cannot understand the appeal of the old factory life. Some folk are happy for it all to be swept aside.   This is sad and niaive – after all, todays students learn so much from being schooled in a modern environment.