Family-run newsagent closes after 106 years

Monika & Colin Morris closed GW Hurley for the final time on Saturday.

A high street newsagent has closed its doors for the final time, after serving its community for 106 years.

GW Hurley Newsagents, in Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, opened in 1919 in the premises of a former sweet shop and has stayed in the same family ever since.

Colin Morris, who has run the shop for 55 years, said his health had forced him and his wife, Monika, to close down for the final time on Saturday.

He said: "I was born here, my grandparents started it off, then my mother and father came in, and then I've been here, my wife and kids have been here and it's just gone on and on."

Mr Morris' grandparents opened the newsagents, which had previously been a sweet shop, in 1919

Reflecting on the long history of the shop, Mr Morris said: "It's a long time. It feels a bit terrible to suddenly have to close but I haven't been well and I've got to pack it in, unfortunately.

"I started when I was eight, and I'm 80 now - so there you are - 72 years.

"It's always been a happy shop, people laughing, we're always on the go, so I can't complain."

The premises is being taken over by In Charley's Memory, a Somerset suicide prevention charity, which offers counselling and group sessions.