Legendary Wolverhampton shop owner calls it quits after 41 years

Express & Star

Gurdas Ram, 82, and wife Meeto Kaur, 86, bought Pauls - a well-known shop in Wolverhampton - over 40 years ago and have now decided to close the shutters for good in an emotional goodbye to their regulars.

Transcript

00:00Loads of thanks to the community. They look after us very well.

00:04Because of them, my family had bread and butter, you know.

00:09We are very, very pleased the way they look after.

00:12We are going to miss them badly.

00:15My name is Kudas Boonpoe, and I'm 82 years old.

00:22And my background, I'm from Bedford.

00:25I came to Wolverhampton on the 16th of May, 1983.

00:32And I had two sisters in Wolverhampton.

00:35They were all in the shop business.

00:38And every time we'd sit together, they would say,

00:41why don't you come to the shop business?

00:44My brother-in-law, he found this shop through the counsellor.

00:48First thing, he gave us bread and butter to my family.

00:54And you talk to the community, laugh and joke.

01:01Our shop is not a shop.

01:04If you stand there, it's like a community centre.

01:09People come, talk to loads of people.

01:12They pass, they don't want to buy anything.

01:14They just come to the shop, talk five minutes.

01:17You know, it's good.

01:19Now, the community help us a lot.

01:23Community here help us a lot.

01:27Well, when we were having problems, you know,

01:29smashed a window and all that, you know.

01:32And they always rang to the police,

01:34why don't you sort this out and all that, you know.

01:37And very, very helpful.

01:40They choose to come to the shop, you know.

01:43And talk to us, don't worry, we are with you.

01:47Don't worry, we are with you.

01:49And they help us.

01:51What we are going to miss, you know, in the shop,

01:54we are going to miss badly.

01:57I mean badly.

01:59All the community, especially little children.

02:02Little children, you know.

02:05Because they all, loads of them,

02:08come walk into the shop, straight away behind the counter.

02:13Tell little children or something else.

02:17And they just stand there.

02:19And they will say to the customer or their mum and dad,

02:22at 20 pence a piece,

02:2520 pence a piece.

02:27And the loads of dogs,

02:30they come, you know, for a treat.

02:33They just sit here.

02:35They won't move till we treat them.

02:39So, we are going to miss all this.

02:42I mean, I'm 82.

02:44You know, I can't do much now.

02:48You know, so, we may go to India for a few weeks.

02:53Because I didn't go to India for the last 19 years.

02:57Yeah, wife used to go every two years.

03:01She didn't, because of the COVID, she didn't go for five years.

03:04So, I think we will go to India for a couple of months.

03:08Loads of thanks to the community.

03:10They look after us very well.

03:12Because of them, my family had bread and butter.

03:16You know, we are very, very pleased the way they look after.

03:20We are going to miss them badly.

03:23But we are still going to live here.

03:25And we will see, you know, when we are working

03:27and going to the pub and all that, you know.

03:29And when we come to the shop, you know, for bread and butter.

03:33Yeah.

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