'We weren't going to be millionaires, but we've been happy'

Husband and wife set to close shutters on last traditional greengrocers in north Manchester

- By DAMON WILKINSON

Christine and Tony outside the shop in Blackley

THE year is 1975. The Vietnam War has just come to an end, David Bowie's Space Oddity is riding high in the charts and Tony and Christine Booth have just opened their greengrocers in Blackley.

Half a century later the husband and wife are still here. Their little shop A&C Booth on Hill Lane is thought to be the last traditional greengrocers in north Manchester.

But not for much longer. On November 1, the couple, both 79, will be hanging up their aprons as they finally retire.

It will bring the shutters down on a lifetime of hard work and close a small chapter in the history of Manchester's high streets.

When Tony and Christine first started out supermarkets were still a relatively new phenomenon and the big, out-of-town stores, spurred by mass car ownership, were still a few years away.

Instead, most people still did their shopping locally, in traditional stores like Tony and Christine's.

"We had a butchers, two bakers, two newsagents, a haberdashers, a hardware shop, a chemist and a bookies all on this parade," says Tony between customers on a quiet Wednesday afternoon. "It was fantastically busy back then."

Behind him piles of fruit and veg sit on shelves above handwritten price signs and brown paper bags. On the counter there's a stack of old newspapers for wrapping up the produce. And just a couple of feet away, next to a glass cabinet holding fresh farm eggs, stands Christine, just as she's done every day for 50 years.