Turners' newsagents to close after serving the community for half a century

A newsagents which hit the headlines when its elderly shopkeeper fended off a thief with her walking stick, is closing its doors after 50 years, citing changing shopping habits.

Turner's Newsagents, on Lichfield Street in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, kept their local community supplied with papers and groceries since January 1975.

Founder June Turner, 89, said she would miss it, despite her daily 04:00 alarm call. "We've got to go sometime haven't we?" she said, adding: "It's been marvellous."

Her son, Alan Turner, who runs the business alongside her, said: "I started when I was 13 as a paper boy here before we had the business, and I'm still doing papers now.