Isles of Scilly's oldest shop for sale after 119 years

Mumford's newsagents has been a feature of the Hugh Town high street since 1904 - it is on the market for £895,000

The oldest continually-run business in the Isles of Scilly is for sale after being in the same family for 119 years.

Mumford's newsagents on St Mary's was opened by Charles Mumford in 1904.

His grandson Clive Mumford has been running it since 1984 alongside other family members, but plummeting sales of newspapers have forced him to sell.

A journalist himself, he said "nothing has hurt me more than having to sell this shop in my whole 85 years... but I have no option".

Clive Mumford moved back to Scilly to run the family business in 1984

"The shop hasn't changed, but the reading habits of the public have. No longer is print king," Mr Mumford said.

"The sale of newspapers has declined radically, and people tend to get all their news online. So it is a job to make a living now with newsprint. Those days are gone."

The shop operates as a newsagent, confectioner, stationer, tobacconist and bookseller

It has been far from an easy to decision to sell the shop, along with the adjoining home he shares with his wife Avril.

"It is as if I have disregarded everything that my forebears did, but I have got no option - simple as that," Mr Mumford continued.

"People just don't read newsprint anymore. Our sales are dropping drastically, so I have got no option."

His three daughters live on the island but have their own careers and don't feel able to take on the business, and his wife has played a key role in keeping the shop running.

Victoria Hitchens has worked in the shop for 20 years, and has "mixed emotions" about her father selling it

His youngest daughter, Victoria Hitchens, who does work in the shop, said: "I have mixed emotions. I think it is the right thing for them at their age.

"I have a little guest house so I can't be taking it on, and my sisters have got other jobs. But it is really sad. Everyone is feeling a bit sad about it.

"Hopefully, if they sell, the next people might continue to try and flog newspapers, or do something completely new."

With its distinctive curved sign, and prominent corner position, Mumford's is instantly recognisable to locals, and visitors alike.

Local shopkeeper Julia Day, who runs Garrison Lane Makery, said: "It's an island institution. For over 100 years it has been at the centre of island life.

"It is hard to imagine island life without it".

The shop had been the only place to buy a lottery ticket and for many island children it has been the home of pick and mix sweets

Georgia May, from clothing retailer The IOS Store opposite Mumford's, said: "We've looked out on it every day for years and years and years, I remember going there as a child and spending all my pocket money in there on penny sweets. It's part of the hub of the centre of town and it is going to be sad to see it go."

Along with running the shop full-time, Mr Mumford has been the island's leading journalist, covering every major news story to affect the islands for many years.

These include the wrecking and salvaging of the Cita in 1997, the Torrey Canyon oil tanker disaster in 1967, and plenty of royal visits.

The original shop was located midway down Hugh Street before moving in 1924

Mr Mumford also had a successful journalism career on the mainland, working at the Western Morning News, the South Wales Echo and the Western Evening Herald - but he gave it up to take on the family business full-time in 1984.

He said: "Invariably Scillonians who spend a lot of time away, in the end somehow always come back. And this was the case with me - after 35 years away I came back.

"I wanted to make sure the business continued in the family."

While working on the mainland he continued to edit the quarterly magazine, the Scillonian, a role he continues to fulfil to this day.

The magazine will turn 100 in 2025.

Running a newsagents on an island where there are frequent travel problems presents unique challenges, and they often receive four or five days' worth of newspapers at once.

Scilly's longest running publication The Scillonian is still edited by Mr Mumford and he is keen for it to continue until 2025, when it will be 100 years old

One regular customer of note was former Prime Minister Harold Wilson who had a holiday home on St Mary's, and is buried there.

Speaking to the BBC in 1987, Mr Mumford recalled a time when they had to ration newspapers for visitors, due to the poor weather causing delivery problems.

Prime Minister Harold Wilson was a regular shopper in Mumford's

He told the programme: "We had to ration the papers for visitors when we didn't have many because of the weather. On one occasion a customer asked for several papers, and I told him he was only allowed one.

"He said it was preposterous and how he had been all over the world and never treated in such a discriminatory fashion.... 'When I get back to Esher, I am going to see my MP who is a great friend of mine, and protest very strongly about this'.

"And just at that moment in walked Harold Wilson with his haversack and pipe, and went to look at the bookshelf.

"So I said to this chap, 'Don't fool about with backbench MPs, why don't we go straight to the prime minister... Mr Wilson', and he turned around and the man shot out of the shop, he fled."

Mr Mumford hopes the next owners may keep the distinctive sign in place "for vanity reasons, but also historical ones"

Original owner Charles Mumford died in 1909 when a gig boat he was in sank while attempting to salvage a grain ship that had been wrecked off the islands.

It left his widow to run the shop, while also caring for Clive's father, who was aged one at the time.

Clive's grandfather who founded the business, and his father as a baby

Originally located mid-way down the main street, it relocated to its current corner position in 1924 when the Duchy of Cornwall rebuilt much of the row.

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