Daily Mail: Is asking guests to take off their shoes rude or good housekeeping?

Daily Mail: Is asking guests to take off their shoes rude or good housekeeping?

by Mary Gold

"But making people take their shoes off is a new fad, surely? Our parents didn’t do it, but then our parents lived in one or maybe two houses all their lives and entertained guests in a couple of downstairs rooms. Nowadays guests seem to expect a tour of the whole house, especially if you have just moved in.

Kate Millns says shoe removal is a ­generational thing. ‘I never ask guests to take their shoes off, but my daughter, who is 22, has moved into a new house with pale ­carpets and she makes people take their shoes off. Maybe it is now she has got her own place and she is having to do her own cleaning!’

Is the whole shoe removal commotion a class issue — all a little bit Footballers’ Wives? Has the trend for all-white ­minimalism turned us into horrible hostesses?
Absolutely not, says Jo Bryant of Debrett’s, the etiquette bible. ‘It doesn’t matter whether you like being asked to take your shoes off, it’s a matter of respecting the host. Look for signals — if there is a pile of shoes in the hall, offer to remove yours."