A LOCAL independent shop which has supplied North Devonians with household essentials for many years will close tomorrow.

Wilden's hardware shop in Boutport Street will cease trading on Friday because the owner, Peter Wilden, is retiring.

Bargain-hunters have been making the most of a closing-down sale, with various items going for half-price.

The shop harks back to an era before out-of-town DIY superstores and internet shopping, when people would turn to a knowledgeable local specialist for a special type of screw, perhaps, or pot of paint.

Indeed, Wilden's will be known to many locals as one of those cosy places which seemed to "sell everything".

By the end of last week, many of the shelves were empty.

Brayford man Dick Raymond told the Journal his grandfather, Frank Raymond, paid for the building where Wilden's is based to be built in 1899, but it was not a hardware shop in those days.

Indeed, Dick Raymond ran the shop as a bakery until 1983, when he sold it and it later became a hardware store.

Mr Wilden said he had ran the store since 1994 with his wife and was now planning to retire.

The future use of the shop has yet to be revealed.