A STALL in Darwen’s three-day market closed on Saturday after 56 years in business.

Clive Wilson, who sold a range of household goods, shut the business to join forces with a cafe owner in Southport.

Mr Wilson had run the stall for 36 years after taking over from his mum, Hilda, who ran it for the previous two decades.

Mr Wilson, who lives in Tarleton, near Southport, said he would miss Darwen and the market. He said: “I am not leaving because the trade is bad in Darwen. The people in the town are lovely and I will miss all my customers.

“It was a sad day for me on Saturday as I started on the market when I was just five. I used to help my mum unload the van on my days off school and on Saturdays.”

Mr Wilson said his mother had started selling out of a suitcase more than half a century ago.

He said: “My dad, Dave, had a stall on Oldham market and he would drop mum off on the way with her suitcase.

“Sometimes she wouldn’t even get on and she would just have to wait until he came and pick her up. The first time she got a stall she sold an entire suitcase and she played a trick on my dad, telling him she hadn’t got on.

“When he went to pick up the suitcase, which should have been really heavy, he nearly launched it! After a while, she got her own full-time pitch and she went from there.”

Mr Wilson said Darwen Market was once one of the best in the North West, which is why his mum used to go.

He said: “It was one of the best back then, along with Blackburn, Bury and Oldham. It had a great reputation and the atmosphere was fantastic.”

Mr Wilson said there had been a decline in trade in recent years but Darwen still managed okay. He said: “There will always be a place for markets, although they are having a tough time. People do still like to come to Darwen Market to shop. A lot of people, including younger people, come to the market to meet and socialise as well.”

Mr Wilson has become the business partner of the owner of Andy’s Snack Bar in Southport, which he said was a popular cafe well known for its baked goods.

Fellow three-day market stallholder Brenda Cronshaw said: “It is a big blow to us. Clive doesn’t just sell, he tells people how to do things and solves problems for them.”