Butcher hangs up his apron

Colin Staplehurst, 56, is taking a well earned break after 41 years of hard work in the town, including the past 12 years at the Riverside Centre.

Mr Staplehurst started plying his trade as a fresh-faced 15-year-old at a butchers in Priory Street. At the time it was one of 13 butchers in Lewes, compared to just three in 2008.

He worked in Marshes Butchers (now Abby National) in Lewes High Street and at the age of 21 became manager of Frederick Priors again in the High Street where he stayed until 1995 before moving to the Riverside Centre.

He said: 'I've loved every minute of it. I love the job, I love Lewes and I love the people. It's been absolutely fantastic at the Riverside and it's earnt me a very good living but the customers in Lewes have been very loyal and I've managed to see off Tesco, Waitrose and Safeway.

'Things have changed a lot over the years, people don't like to see carcasses - it's all about cuts of meat.

'We used to have pigs hanging in the windows but now people don't want to see the animal how it was.

'I remember we used to hang rabbits up in the shop and at the time of Watership Down we put up a sign saying: You've read the book, you've seen the film, now eat the cast!

'You couldn't do that now, someone would probably smash your window.'

His view of the Ouse has been a good one for the past few years but it came too close in 2000 when the Riverside Centre was hit by floodwater and closed for eight weeks.

Mr Staplehurst was one of the first traders Prince Edward talked to when he visited the town after the flooding.

He said: 'My mother-in-law, who won't mind me saying this, had been flooded in the morning and we were flooded in the afternoon, and she came to live with us for 13 weeks, as Prince Edward and I were walking around in the sludge I told him about it and I said to him "Is there no God?".'

Colin, who lives in Christie Avenue, RIngmer,plans to go travelling with his wife Sue, who has looked after the paperwork for years.

Devon and the Shetland Isles are on the agenda in the next few months where they hope to indulge their love of bird-watching, especially swans.

But Mr Staplehurst insists he is only taking a sabbatical and will be back later in the year to do some shifts for friends at various shops in Lewes.

Ben Trottman who currently runs Ben's Butchers, just off Lewes High Street, will take over Mr Staplehurst's unit at the Riverside Centre.