NINETEEN years of old-fashioned service and personal attention is to come to an end as businesswoman Margaret Noon hangs up her tape measure and scissors.

Mrs Noon is retiring at the end of March and will close the Rocking Chair shop in Main Street, Cross Hills.

The business originally sold pottery, cane furniture and giftware at premises further down the road and was opened as a joint venture between Mrs Noon and her late husband Ronald.

In 1988 the business moved to new premises at 1 Main Street and diversified into ladies clothing and fashions.

Mrs Noon's began her working life at Halifax's Messrs Farrer Mayes - the kind of old fashioned ladies shop of the type featured in "Are You Being Served?".

She learnt how to prepare window displays, along with measuring and fitting skills.

"I was taught that it didn't matter if a customer came in a Rolls Royce or clogs and a shawl. They are all important and I have always followed that advice," she said.

Her selling skills were sharpened when she worked as an auctioneer at Gill Croft Saleroom during the 1970s.

When the Noons came to Cross Hills, there were two dress shops in the village. "So many people have closed down, but we have always had good suppliers and a good following of customers. A lot of people like to be served rather than rummage through on their own," she said.

She said she would miss her customers and would spend her retirement helping in her daughter's soft furnishing business.

And although Mrs Noon's customers will miss her sorely, passers-by will also find something missing - the shop's mascot, a tall rabbit, which has stood in the window and displayed humorous notices and greetings over the years.

Mrs Noon said it would be found a place in her home.