A RENOWNED butcher from Belbroughton has retired and closed his doors for good after almost half a century of service to the community.

Charles Jordan retired on Saturday, August 7 and in celebration he enjoyed a glass of bubbly and trip down memory lane, by doing a lap of honour on the bicycle which he used to travel around the village on as a youngster.

The 63-year-old said: “The truth is when I set out I wanted to be a police man but I never grew tall enough so I became a butcher.

“I have served some of these people for 48 years, since I was a boy, we will still keep in touch.

“I moved here in 1955 and before I started work as a butcher I used to deliver papers from the shop next door, which has now shut down, I know Belbroughton inside out.”

The butcher shop Charles Jordan, on the high street, used to serve around 80 per cent of the village today only approximately 20 per cent use the shop.

Mr Jordan said: “We cannot be open 24 hours a day like supermarkets and people need to shop for convenience because when we are open they are at work so things have changed in the last five years.

“After so many years I shall be sad to see it go but there is a new life out there.”

At 15, he first started working in the butchers shop for Mr Douglas Mills.

After Mr Mills retired from the business, which was at that time called Douglas Mills, Mr Jordan took over.

For the past 25 years, he has worked virtually alone with help only from his wife Marilyn.

The pair now intend to spend more time being grandparents, as their son Andrew, who works as an engineer, has a one year old called Freya and daughter Nicola, a teacher, is expecting.

They also plan to take more holidays.