Last updated at 19:50, Thursday, 07 June 2012

A Workington business that has been trading since World War Two is due to close at the end of this month.

END OF AN ERA: Veronica Richardson, left, and Rose Humes behind the counter of Clark’s Electrical, in Finkle Street, Workington, which will close this month

Clark’s Electrical, in Finkle Street, started as a fruit and vegetable shop in Jane Street in the late 1930s.

It began selling radios after the war and then moved into other electrical goods.

Shop owner Veronica Richardson said it had been hard hit by the recession and the 30-minute street parking limit which came into force in 2010.

Clark’s was the biggest shop in town for renting television sets for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

It moved to Finkle Street in the 1980s and remained in the Clark family until 2008 when its previous owner Raymond Clark died.

It was taken over by Miss Richardson, whose mother Rose Humes had worked for Raymond for 35 years, and moved to another premises on Finkle Street.

Miss Richardson, 43, of Westfield, said: “The business was going to close in 2008 when Raymond died but we decided we wanted to keep it going.”

Mrs Humes, 66, of Northumberland Street, retired from the shop when her daughter took over but still helps out when needed.

She said: “The shop has been my life for a long time, and it will be strange having no Clark’s in the town.”

First published at 19:19, Thursday, 07 June 2012
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk