In June 2012, an advertisement in the Eastern Daily Press described 16-18 Fairland Street as "a former worker's forge, which comes with an adjoining artisan cottage." The forge had been transformed into residential, but with the name "The Old Forge", its importance in the Wymondham story has not been forgotten. In the EDP's property supplement, it was named "property of the week".

It was Simon Gooch, who ran a smithy there from about 1876 and was the father of Edwin Gooch, who became a printer and then a journalist with the Norwich Mercury, later becoming chief sub-editor. Edwin became arguably the town's most famous son after the Ketts. Apart from being MP for North Norfolk and at one time chairman of the Labour Party, he served the National Union of Agricultural Workers for 36 years as its president.

Albert, another of Simon's sons, worked in the smithy, and when Simon died in 1912, Albert ran the smithy until 1918, when it was sold to the Reeve family. Charles Reeve ran it for 38 years until his death in 1960, and then his son George continued it for a further 28 years.

Shoeing horses, repairing agricultural implements and the like, The Old Forge had served the people of Wymondham and District for well over 100 years.