BIG SHOES TO FILL

Kirsty Bosley speaks to one of the last long-standing independent shop owners in Birmingham city centre after he decides to call it a day after 20 years

- Kirsty Bosley

"HAVE you got these in a size eight?" an older gent asks Paul Lamb as he stands sticking sale tags to the soles of shoes.

The shopkeeper is putting the final discounts on goods in the store he's dedicated his life to running.

This Friday, he'll be shutting the doors to his Great Western Arcade store after 20 years in the Victorian mall.

"That's all we've got left now," he says, kindly, and the man wandered off to continue finding his ideal size eight.

I was in the shop for two reasons. One, to ask Paul more about the closure and, two, to say congratulations on keeping an independent business going in Birmingham city centre for nearly four entire decades.

Paul has a history in town, running little boutiques in spots like New Street and Stephenson Street over the years. He was telling me about it when the older customer returned to the counter with a different shoe.