A Shrewsbury Haberdashery shop is saying goodbye to a loyal employee who has clocked up 50 years service.

Shropshire Star

Pic at Watson and Thornton Haberdashery in Shrewsbury, where they are saying goodbye to an employee of 50 years. We find out all the good things that's kept him there for so long.

Transcript

00:00So we're here at Watson and Thornton, Fabrics and Haberdashery, and erm, hello sir Brian, how are you?

00:06Good morning, I'm very well actually, getting very excited.

00:09Well yeah, your working days are nearly done aren't they sir?

00:13Well, I don't know about working, I've got jobs at home.

00:16Well yeah, so you're about to be leaving here, and sadly to the customers of Shrewsbury and beyond,

00:24because you've clocked up 50 years with the company.

00:27I'm a man and boy, I have, for the company.

00:29So let's go back to erm, yay old days then.

00:32How did you first get involved and what was that role?

00:36Well, I was a Saturday boy on the market, at Ellesmere Port to begin with.

00:42My boss, Colin Thornton, he lived next door to my mum and dad when he first got married.

00:46And I said, do you need a Saturday boy? And he said, come along.

00:50So we did, so every morning, 7 o'clock we used to be off to Ellesmere Port.

00:55Yep, and you were living Congleton Way at that time?

00:58I lived in Congleton in Cheshire, I did.

01:00So markets were the start, and that was Ellesmere Port, and there was a couple of others you used to travel to?

01:06Yes, we did. Wellington, we came down here on a Wednesday to Shrewsbury, Oswestry as well.

01:13And we had actually a shop in Congleton in Cheshire.

01:15Yeah, and then you eventually moved into this shop.

01:20This shop, I mean it's expanded over the years hasn't it?

01:23Very much so, very much so.

01:25The part that we're in with the original part, and then all through the years we've expanded,

01:30it got bigger, got bigger, and we can't get any bigger.

01:33It is, it's like a TARDIS, it keeps going up when you come in doesn't it?

01:36I get my step counting.

01:37Yeah, I can believe it.

01:39What was that little, we were just having a little chinwag off camera, just tell us that little anecdote.

01:43This used to be a newsagents didn't it, back in the day?

01:46Well this part, number 27, used to be Hollyoaks, the newsagents and fishing tackle shop.

01:51Maybe older people might know it, remember it.

01:56And it was the only shop, newsagents, open at the time when we used to come down to the market.

02:01So we used to get our newspaper, wait for the market to open and that was it.

02:04Who'd have thought, it's funny how things work isn't it?

02:06If someone would have tapped you on the shoulder and said, well you'll be here, you know.

02:09And we were.

02:10Yeah, yeah.

02:11So how old are you now then Brian, I'm getting personal.

02:14I will be 66 in September.

02:16So you literally started as a young lad then didn't you?

02:19I was 13.

02:20Yeah, wow.

02:21So this shop's been here 46 years.

02:2446 years we have.

02:25How long have you been on the ground here then, serving customers here?

02:28Actually, probably 35 of those maybe 46 years.

02:34Might even be a little bit longer than that, might be coming up to 40.

02:37Because I used to do the markets in Wellington.

02:39Used to come over on a Wednesday to Shrewsbury Market, go back to Wellington on the Thursday.

02:45On Friday off and back to Wellington on Saturday.

02:48So you must, I mean, you must have built up quite relationships with customers really haven't you?

02:53Oh, that's been one of the best things about the job actually.

02:56Meeting so many people and over the years people have grown up

03:01and they've come, they've left Shrewsbury, they've come back and they say,

03:05Oh, are you still here?

03:07You haven't changed have you?

03:09Well I hope so, I've got less hair and more wrinkles.

03:13But yeah, I guess these kind of shops, it's about that kind of proper service isn't it?

03:18You don't just come in and beep something on the till and pick something off a shelf.

03:21We've always prided ourselves on customer service actually over the years.

03:25It does make a big difference, it does make a big difference and people appreciate it.

03:29You can go into supermarkets and you'll see nobody really,

03:32or nobody to interact with apart from the people on the till.

03:36Here we give advice.

03:38Do you think that's what's kept you here, that personable side of the job?

03:42It has, it has, it's been one of the plus points.

03:45I actually always wanted to be a teacher but I ended up marrying one.

03:48Oh did you?

03:49I did.

03:50Well you've got a ruler in your hands.

03:53I remember having a few rulers in my time before.

03:58Before it was banned.

03:59So you leave Shrewsbury now, you moved a number of years ago to the town itself.

04:04I moved in 1984, moved to Castlefields from Congleton.

04:08I was travelling more or less four or five days a week.

04:12Sometimes I used to actually stay over here with Mr Thornton

04:16because he's got a flat above the shop.

04:18And then I decided it was time to leave home.

04:22I think my mum was fed up with me.

04:25And it's still the Thornton family isn't it?

04:27It's still the Thornton family.

04:29Even though they kept the name of Watson and Thornton,

04:33it was easy to keep all the stationery and everything.

04:37And everybody knows us either as Watson and Thornton or the boys.

04:41And you were saying people thought the shop was closing when you said you were going, didn't you?

04:45They did, they were very worried.

04:47But don't worry, the shop's still going to be here.

04:51Expanding all the time.

04:53Mr and Mrs Thornton's daughter, Pascale, has now taken over the business

04:56and she's got things up and running and tickety-boo.

05:01And what's kind of your role then?

05:03So you come in, you assist, just fill us in on what you do in the haberdashery.

05:08Well over the years I've been Jack of all trades, but master of none.

05:13I don't like using that term.

05:16I do virtually anything.

05:18I do the tills, I help clean the shop, help keep it tidy, keep it restocked,

05:23do the stock taking.

05:25Yep, I can do most of the things.

05:27And serve the customers.

05:30So are we getting customers, is it Shrewsbury people

05:33or do people kind of travel in from outside of the town to come here?

05:37We have a very big catchment area.

05:40A lot of people from the West Midlands, Wolverhampton Way, Mid Wales,

05:46even sort of Chester now because they've lost their fabric shop.

05:49Yeah, well there was a...

05:51Reputation precedes us.

05:52Yeah, well Express and Star covered a wool shop closing in Wolverhampton

05:55and I guess as those kind of places close this becomes even more important

05:59doesn't it to serve the community?

06:01It does, it does actually.

06:03I mean at one time there were at least seven senior schools doing GCSE and A level

06:08dressmaking, sewing, but now I think it's down to maybe two, two and a half.

06:13Yeah.

06:14And that's a shame really because where's the younger talent coming from?

06:17Yeah.

06:18And also apparently a lot less colleges and so on doing upholstery courses

06:23these days, some I've been told.

06:25Yeah, there's a few.

06:26I mean the sewing bee on TV always gives us a shot in the arm

06:29and I think hopefully inspires the younger generation

06:33and maybe people who have lapsed and would say,

06:36Oh, I can do that.

06:38Yes you can.

06:39So does it tend to be mostly people coming in who are doing stuff to do with clothing

06:44or is it furniture, is it 50-50?

06:46Well over the years it's developed, as a shop we've developed and expanded.

06:52We used to be predominantly dress fabrics, but now we do furnishing fabrics,

06:56craft and lots of haberdashery.

06:59So patch workers, we have lots of patch workers.

07:01Yeah.

07:02And we offer classes as well, so if people want to learn.

07:04Oh wow.

07:05Yeah, my boss's daughter, she does the teaching.

07:09Does that happen on site here?

07:10It does.

07:11Oh wow.

07:12We've got a classroom upstairs.

07:13Oh fantastic.

07:14And lots of other things.

07:15Yeah, yeah.

07:16It's a big shop.

07:17Yeah, yeah.

07:18So what are your skills like back at home?

07:19If we went to your house, are we going to find tatty cushions,

07:21do you have your fill of it at work?

07:23My wife's the sewer, because that's how we met.

07:25She was at Sixth Form doing O-Levels and A-Level while I was on the market,

07:29so she's the sewer.

07:30But me, they call me Break It Bri.

07:33If it can be broken, I can break it.

07:36But I'll give it a go.

07:39Any particular notable customers that come to mind over the years?

07:43I'm putting you on the spot here really.

07:44Oh, Barry's putting me on the spot because there's been that many of them

07:47because of my time here.

07:48Yeah.

07:49Many, many, many customers.

07:51Yeah.

07:52And I guess that's probably made,

07:53did that make the decision all the more difficult to say,

07:56right, now is the time I'm going?

07:58Oh, very much so, very much so.

08:00It's going to be the interaction that I am going to miss.

08:02But I go to the gym five times a week,

08:04so I've got guys there I can sort of chat to.

08:07Yeah, yeah.

08:08Just keep myself fit and chatty.

08:10So do you think you'll still be popping in for a cup of tea in a chin rag now and again?

08:13Well, I'm not a big tea drinker or coffee drinker actually,

08:16but yes.

08:17Yeah.

08:18I mean, like I said, I've been part of the family for such a long time.

08:21They've grown up with me and I've grown up with them.

08:24You know what, when you think about it actually,

08:26I guess you've probably spent more time in your working life with your colleagues

08:32than I have with my relatives, you know.

08:34So you do become part of that family, don't you really?

08:36Yeah, you do, you do.

08:37And it is lovely actually, it really is.

08:39You feel part and parcel of the company.

08:43Yeah.

08:44And I was going to ask what you're going to be doing with your spare time,

08:47but obviously the gym's a big thing.

08:48Well it is, but I'm going to maybe, because I'm usually in at half past six in the morning,

08:52so maybe won't have to get up so early.

08:54Yeah.

08:55I can sort of do my own thing when I want to.

08:57I've got a wedding in Australia next year

09:00and a local wedding, a concert to go to.

09:03I'm going to give myself time to settle in.

09:06I'm a creature of habit.

09:08Creature of habit.

09:09So half six, that's an early start isn't it?

09:11Well yes, I have to be up at five past six to get there for half past six.

09:15Yeah, yeah.

09:16Luckily the gym I go to, the Shrewsbury Club,

09:18is only about five, ten minutes away from home.

09:20So I can more or less change, fall out of bed, get in,

09:23and get in and do the class.

09:25Well, we'll give you the last word Brian.

09:27Is there anything you want to say to the customers

09:29that you've worked alongside with over the years?

09:32I'd like to thank them for coming in, putting up with me.

09:35Sometimes my rival humour can be a little bit.

09:39I hope to see them around, but you never know.

09:43So here we have Pascal Thornton

09:45and a lot of customers think you're husband and wife.

09:50We can set the record straight, that's not the case.

09:53That's not the case.

09:54So Pascal, it's your family business.

09:56Will you be sad to see Brian go?

09:58Yeah, of course we are.

09:59He's an absolute gem.

10:01He's done us proud over the years

10:03and we wish him all the best.

10:05Yeah, I mean I've got a sense just the few minutes I've spent with him

10:07the kind of warmth.

10:08So I can imagine when you've got a customer face in business

10:11that's what you want, isn't it?

10:12Yeah, absolutely.

10:13He's brilliant.

10:15The customers come in for miles and miles and miles

10:17and they're all amazed that he's still here.

10:20Yeah, we are finally managing to get rid of him, aren't we Brian?

10:24Yeah, we've been trying for a while.

10:26What we were saying, I bet you've spent more time with Brian,

10:29although you're not husband and wife,

10:31I bet you've spent more time with Brian

10:32than a lot of your members of your family, haven't you?

10:34Well, he's literally been around my whole lifetime.

10:37So yeah, he's been a dad as well as a husband.

10:41But you'll be sad to see him go then?

10:42Of course we will, yeah.

10:43That's nice, isn't it?

10:44End of an era for him, but all the best in the future.

10:48Never say never.

10:49Yeah, he's welcome back at any time.

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