LePrevo

Still kicking about it seems - but not brewed locally (unless North Yorkshire, Netherlands or California counts) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newcastle_Brown_Ale - the old brewery site is now an interesting mix of high rise student accommodation, futuristic University buildings and brownfield wasteland.

We've still got a roll or two of that 'dragon skin' kicking about at £2.50 per sq ft if anyone desperately needs to acquire some....

We do cut straps at Le Prevo - http://www.leprevo.co.uk/straps.htm Straps are cut to any custom width required - we hand select the hide so depends on which leather and thickness for how long a strap we could get for you.

We've fitted a new type of blade to our wooden strap cutters in the workshop and they're the best we've ever had - not unusual to cut a hundred straps a week with them and still holding their edge after months of use at that level. Would usually be replacing standard blades after a couple of hundred straps http://www.leprevo.co.uk/cutting.htm - code T40 for a pack of 5 or T40 A for a single blade - given how well these last a single blade might be all you need and then don't have to look for a new cutting tool. You also don't get that lethal blade overhang with them - much safer than using skiver blades in them.

I'd been a customer of Le Prevo for around 15 years - was in the shop one day and Stu said he was going to close the place. Shame to see that happen and I'd be stuck for leather so gave it all of 2 seconds thought and said "how much for the place?". Will and Nick came over with the shop (thankfully) as did all the contacts, stock, suppliers etc. so not much has changed there. It's a small team of leather crafters happy to give impartial advice on tools and materials - we're not some warehouse operation where just the top hide in a pile gets picked and dispatched. If you want a hide of a certain size we'll look through stock and hand select one for you. If there's an issue with a piece we'd tell you beforehand - unfortunately in Scott's case something got sent out by mistake and we had to see it back in the flesh to confirm the issue before sorting it through the returns & refunds policy. A shop customer looked over the returned piece on Friday and happily bought it from the clearance section - more like growth marks than scarring and suitable for what they wanted. As you noted buying leather in person is often preferable.

For context this is the first return of leather for this reason in the 8 months since I took over Le Prevo. Anything that isn't up to what we would be happy to send out sight unseen goes in the shop clearance section where a customer can look it over and see exactly what they are getting (and priced accordingly). In Scott's case we think a rolled piece that was meant to go out in clearance got picked up as for his order by mistake. Inevitably mistakes happen but these scenarios are covered by the returns policy - for some things we really have to see it in the flesh to see the issue - which was the case here.

Marks on veg tan don't show up too well, especially on the low resolution pictures you provided so it's been difficult to assess the issue without getting it back and seeing it in person. Hence we'd asked if the parcel had been damaged on receipt - in case the leather could have been marked in transit (parcels can take a bit of a knocking). As per the returns policy in our Terms and Conditions (which customers accept when they place an order) if there's an issue with the items provided the customer sends it back, we check it over and you get a refund. Some people send back substituted items so we do have to err on the side of caution - but the returns policy is fair, applied equally to everyone and is compliant with customers right to cancel an order and ask for a refund.