Our History

Established in 2013 and with Chris Macnamara at the helm, The Brogue Trader set out to bring back the lost art of traditional retailing with great customer service and exceptional products being the driving force behind the business.

To make this dream a reality The Brogue Trader had to be set in the correct environment, so designing the store himself, Chris began to create his vision. To do so he used locally sourced materials and tradesmen as supporting local business and trade is very much a core value of The Brogue Trader. We feel that without local enterprises, towns, cities and villages would lose their sense of character and prosperity. So, rolling up their sleeves, 3 generations of the Macnamara family contributed towards the creation of the store with a ‘no job too small’ attitude.

Chris’ vision of what the store should represent was akin to that of a traditional gentlemen’s club, with rich mahogany panelled walls, luxurious chesterfield wingback chairs and Axminster carpet throughout. Within a few months, the Cardiff store had taken shape and was ready for business.

Our first store

Opening the door for the first time in the Welsh Capital in November 2013, Father and Sons, Chris, Keiron & Daniel Macnamara set out to make a name for themselves as luxury retailers of fine footwear. The store was met with a fantastic response from customers and immediate success within the industry, winning the prestigious title of ‘New footwear retailer of the year’ at the National footwear awards and being crowned Cardiff’s ‘Retailer of the year’ in the same year. These accolades were great milestones to achieve however an important measure of the success of the Brogue Trader is the partnerships that have been built with the local community and businesses. All stores work hard on creating these relationships within their area but the best examples of this are in Cardiff where Chris has built numerous lasting partnerships, including the partnerships with the Welsh Rugby Union and Welsh Football Association where The Brogue Trader is proud to be the official shoe supplier to the National teams. Cardiff’s own regional rugby team, The Cardiff Blues are also sponsored by the business.

More than a shoe shop

Following on from the development of the Cardiff store it was time to expand, so in 2015 the second store in Chester’s St Michaels Row was opened. This was the beginning of the rapid expansion which has now led The Brogue Trader on to open 8 stores across Great Britain in some of the finest cities this country has to offer.

The future

As the business looks forward to the future there are many exciting projects ahead however it is now more important than ever to maintain and adhere to the foundations that were set out at the business’ inception – exceptional customer service and a great quality product are paramount.