A POPULAR high street store is set to close its doors for good, after 125 years in business, in another huge blow to the high street.
The newsagents touched the lives of many in the century and a quarter it was in , so much so that 80 former employees returned to the store for a huge send-off.
Burrows, in Ely Cambridgeshire first opened back in 1900, but will now for the final time, after owner Jeff Burrows, 76, made the decision to .
Upon announcing the closure, Mr Burrows and his niece Annabel Reddick, who works in the shop, put a call out on social media, asking for former employees to come to the newsagents at 9 am on Saturday.
Annabel described the response they received as “incredible.”
“I thought we'd get about 15 or twenty if we were lucky”, she told the BBC.
Among those who attended the reunion, was a man who helped deliver papers back in the 1950s and a woman who had come all the way from .
“Many of them wrote down their memories, thanking Jeff and saying it was a great start to their working life,” Annabel said.
“Jeff and my granddad had a tradition of having hot cross buns for the paper boys and girls at Easter – they'd buy big trays of them – so we did the same and served them all buns from Boswell and Son Bakers on Saturday.”
Despite their being many more attendees than expected, the duo thankfully had enough buns to go round.
Burrows is open every day of the year except Day, and has a staff of around 20 delivering papers to 700 loyal customers.
The newsagents has remained a cash-only business, and is an integral part of the local community.
Burrows was set up by Jeff's grandfather James Frederick, before being passed on to Jeff's father Percy Burrows, who ran the business until 1973.
Jeff was just 25 when he took over the business and said that he has worked every day apart from Christmas Day for the last 20 years.
During the 52 years that Jeff ran Burrows he believes he has employed over 500 paper boys and girls.
The youngsters were mostly aged between 13 and 16, and Jeff described them as “good as gold.”
Burrows will close for good on April 26, and its paper round has been sold to a national company.
The closure of the beloved newsagent is just one of to batter the high street in recent weeks.
A combination of , a shift towards and the aftermath of the Covid-19 , have all been blamed for the death of the high street.
has announced plans to close nine UK stores, putting 126 at risk.
On Tuesday, legendary retailer after its landlord refused to renew the lease.
Shoppers were left gutted this week by the that a 154 year old which became one of the was shutting up shop.
And bargain heavenpermanently before the end of May.
