A pensioner is finally retiring after 55 years on a market stall – at the grand old age of 96.
Arthur Ellis has been running market stalls all over the North West for more than half a century but has gradually closed them as he has he got older.
All except for his favourite beloved bedding stall on Fleetwood Market in Lancashire which he is now due to close.
Arthur, originally one of 10 children, said: “I’ve loved being on the market.
“I was not one to sit at home and watch TV all day, going to the market gave me an incentive.
“I liked it all – going to Manchester to pick up the stock, coming into the market here and seeing all the traders and my regulars.”
The pensioner worked at the Adelaide Street market all through his sixties, seventies, eighties and much of his nineties.
But all good things come to an end and Arthur has finally decided to call it a day after mounting a final half-price sale before hanging up his hat.
On the final afternoon of work at the market on Saturday, staff and fellow market traders presented him with gifts and a cake and staged a special buffet.
Julian Brent, market manager at Fleetwood, said: “I have been at this market 11 years and Arthur is the nicest trader I have ever worked with.
“He was a typical gentleman trader.
“He just got on with things and always made money but he was nice with it and was a very popular figure here.
“He always joked that when he woke up in the morning and pushed out his arms, as long as he wasn’t in a wooden box, he was alright.”
