One of Ashby's longest-established shops will be closing its doors for the final time after 36 years in the town centre.

Time Consortium is shutting its Market Street store on Christmas Eve with the owners David and Melanie Hamp-Gopsill deciding to leave primarily to retire.

But the decision, say the couple, has left at least one their customers in tears.

A combination of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the local economy - and a lease that is about to run out - is behind the decision which they say is 'very sad'.

The shop has been under its current owners since 1984 and they think they could be among the longest-serving shopkeepers in Ashby.

Both David and Melanie are from Burton - where there were two shops run by the same family - but consider Ashby to be an adopted home due to the longevity of their business in the town.

"It's the end of an era," said David, who attended the former Manor House School in Ashby but learned his craft in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter.

Melanie told Ashby Nub News that some of their customers have been extremely saddened by the news.

"We've been a fixture in the town and we know so many people, we have a loyal customer base there are people we've known and become friends with over the years," she said.

"It's very sad to be doing this. We had a woman who came in last week and she was in tears, she's 89-years-old and said she had to come and buy one last thing before we leave.

"She was so upset and started crying, I really wanted to give her a hug but I couldn't, because of the virus, it's awful.

"We've known people for so long, some come in just for a chat, a lot of people are sad, and have said they don't know what they're going to do when we've gone.

"Our final day of trading will be Christmas Eve, but but we feel it's the right time for us to retire'."

David added: "There aren't many other shops in Ashby that have lasted as long as us with the same people.

"I think we must be one of the longest serving running one shop in the town.

"We've seen the buildings here stay the same, but the shops and their owners come and go over the years. Almost all of them have changed but we've stayed the same."

Melanie explained the background behind the shop.

"The family business started in Burton on Trent, in Newton Road, maybe 50 years ago, then we took over this one 36 years ago," she said.

"It was Smalls the jewellers before then. That's when we took over. We also had another business in the Octagon Centre in Burton, that was 1993 when we opened that one.

"This was the second one, the Octagon was the third. The other two have gone now."

Melanie is a former hairdresser who trained as a jeweller 27 years ago, but David's family were in the trade.

"It's a real family business," she said.

"But the lease is up here at the end of December which means we would have to take out a new one, the last one we took was 10 years, and we thought last year what we were going to carry on a bit longer, maybe four or five years.

"And then of course the pandemic happened and it's just escalated. This has been the most challenging of all our years, we were closed for months, we closed from March to June and then again last month."

David added: "It's really affected us as a business, but when we came back, people were very supportive, but we weren't able to open as much when we did get back.

"So it's a combination of a lot of things really. At the start of the year we didn't know it would affect us as it had done.

"Business had been doing well in January and was picking up.

"But the pandemic changed our thoughts about continuing."

The couple, whose daughter Kirsty also works in the shop, say their connections with Ashby are strong.

"Ashby is our adopted hometown really. I've known Ashby since I was little, my mother used to work in what was known as Fine Fare in Market Street, She was a butcher there" added Melanie.

"I remember Rushton's having the rabbits hanging outside the shop."

David admitted the irony is that they are likely to be in demand between now and Christmas - but restrictions mean they can only have two households in the shop at any one time.

"It's a very busy town here, and we've had people queueing outside since lockdown was lifted," he said.

"They were outside around into Rushton's Yard.

"We've never really seen that before, November is usually one of the biggest months. The shop is small and we can only allow two households in at a time.

"We found that people have been doing their Christmas shopping at the last minute anyway, sometimes the last couple of weeks."

Melanie added: "It's been incredible, on Thursday we had to take a 20-minute break because it was non-stop."