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Return will be sweet

Sue Carr
29/10/2008

BARRY Gleave wasn’t out of short trousers when he started in the family business — in fact he wasn’t even out of nappies.

The pensioner was just three days old when introduced to the job that would become his life.

Now 72, Barry is the longest-serving stallholder on Ashton’s indoor market, selling biscuits, cakes and more than 300 varieties of sweets.

He will be among the traders moving from the temporary Phoenix market to the newly-refurbished hall next month.

"We’ve had a stall since 1932, first on the outdoor market and then we moved indoors in 1941. My parents started off with five boxes of biscuits and they worked it up from there" he said.

"I came on the stall when I was three days old, I was put in a cardboard box underneath the counter.

"I used to come and help every day after school. During the war I remember having to spend all my nights counting the ration coupons.

"I started working full-time in the ‘50s and now it’s just become a way of life."

The stall is now so well-known that Barry says he’s recognised wherever he goes, even on holiday in Spain.

"They said ‘Isn’t that him from the sweet stall?’" said Barry, who works alongside wife Sandra.

He hopes to pass the stall on to his children but says he has no plans to retire yet. He’d miss his customers, and the sweets!

"I think I eat more than anyone," he added.

"We have customers who have been coming for as long as I can remember, who came with their parents and grandparents, but we don’t treat them as customers, they are our friends.

"The market is part of the people of Ashton and I can’t think of anything I’d prefer to be doing rather than this."