A NEWSAGENT in Dawlish is retiring after delivering an estimated 13 million newspapers in the last 45 years.

Gareth Taylor took over Dawlish News in Queen Street in 1981 but now, at the age of 77, he has decided to call time on his shop.

The premises at 4 Queen Street is thought to have been a newsagent since 1904 when it was known as Storey’s

During the Second World War Ted Storey was a reporter with the Daily Mirror.

His father had run the Newsagents at 4 Queen Street for many years and when he died, Ted returned to . caretake the shop while his father’s estate was wound up.

He never left, 42 years later, in September 1981, at the age of 72 he sold his business to Gareth.

He said: ‘To put my stamp on the business I changed the name to Dawlish News.

‘Prior to this, I had worked with W H Smith & Son for 15 years in shop and area management.

‘With this background it was inevitable Dawlish News became a mini replica of W H Smith.

‘News delivery has always been at the heart of the business, when I began we were delivering to about 300 customers.

‘Over succeeding years, when other newsagents either closed or gave up delivering we took on their deliveries.

‘At its peak in 2001 we were delivering to 1200 customers 364 days a year and expanded into stationery, greeting cards and paperback books.’

In the mid 1990s, Gareth installed a one hour photo lab developing and printing 35mm film which was a big success until digital photography took off.

Nationally the newspaper industry has been in decline which left Dawlish News delivering to about 360 customers.

Gareth said: ‘I would like to thank the scores of youngsters who, back in the day worked delivering newspapers who must all be middle aged now.

‘So, I say a heartfelt Thank You to the residents of Dawlish for supporting my business over the years.’