How did you become a retailer?
I became a retailer because of family connections on my wife's side.

What do you like most about being a retailer?
You are your own boss. Lots of people tell you how to run your business but at the end of the day it's up to you. I get a lot of enjoyment from bringing food to the attention of other people.

What do you hate?
The amount of bureaucracy
you have to put up with when you run your own business. And it's very difficult to take time off.

What's the best advice anybody has given you?
Trust your instincts.

What's good about the location of your shop?
It's right at the beginning of the high street. Goudhurst is a very beautiful village and we do have a lot of tourists here. In the first two months we were in the store - which was during the wintertime - I served a total of 22 different nationalities.

What would you have done
if you hadn't gone into the business?
I'd still be doing something in sales and marketing. I spent 30 years in this sector before I came to retail.

If you had your time over would you do anything differently?
We should have done some things a bit earlier, but who's to know if it would have worked?