BUSINESSMAN Ronnie Beckwith renowned for selling expensive shoes from his auto-repair shop has retired after 35 years.

On Wednesday friends joined Ronnie and his wife, Pat, at Northern Autos on Water Street to wish them both well for their future in Norfolk.

Ronnie closed his automotive business to spend more time with Pat and to get away from the strains of running a business single handedly.

He said the days of DIY auto repairs were long gone.

Northern Autos was one of those places where you could find everything you needed - from brushes and steel filler to bike tyres, sandpaper, nuts and bolts and car parts.

All customers would benefit from Ronnie's professional advice on how to solve motoring problems and which products to use.

And the shoes? "The shoes started as a bit of a joke," said Ronnie.

"Someone came in and asked us for some work shoes, Peter (his former partner) said 'yes' brought some down and put them on the counter. Everyone who came in then said 'are you going into footwear now?' and it snowballed from there."

Customer and friend Anthony Edwards said: "There are very few Craven residents, farmers and other business people who don't know and respect Ronnie for his thorough knowledge of the automotive business.

"Ronnie gave high quality attention even if you simply needed a small pack of rubber bushes - try relating that to your experiences of seeking advice or help in most large department stores or other chain stores."

Fellow Water Street businessman John Rhodes said: "The closure of another small business in the Craven community is a sad day generally. It is made much worse because it is Ronnie's business that is closing and with it we lose access to a good mate."

Northern Autos was founded by the late Peter Bass in 1965 across the road from its present site. In 1968 after he left the army, Ronnie started to help out and in 1970 became a full time partner. Peter died in 1989 and Ronnie has run the business alone ever since.