ONE of Thanet’s oldest family businesses is still trading despite rumours that it is about to shut down.

Davis Shoe Repairs in Northdown Road, Cliftonville, will focus solely on shoe repairs from this autumn, and is running down its stock of shoes and handbags.

Joyce Davis, 72, is retiring after a lifetime working in the shoe trade, and her son Michael, 50, will continue to run the business.

Her husband Ron died aged 71 at the Queen Mother Hospital, Margate, last December, two months after he was diagnosed with leukaemia.

Mrs Davis said: "I keep getting phone calls from people who think that I have died too but I am still very much here.

"It is a bit of a shock to pick up the phone and hear someone say how sorry they are to hear that you have passed away, but I shall be haunting the place for a while yet.

"The shop is still up and running and though we are selling off some stock, the business will continue to trade."

Her son inherits a long and strong tradition of cobbling from his father who started in the trade aged just nine.

Mrs Davis said: "Ron began in the shoe trade in the war, putting studs on the soldiers’ boots in the shoe shop in Victoria Road."

Mr Davis worked at Chislet Colliery before starting Davis Shoe Repairs in 1957 at Alexandra Road, Margate, which he ran for 42 years.

Mrs Davis said: "The shop was badly damaged in the great storm of 1987, and as the insurance only covered a third of its value, we moved to our present location in Northdown Road in the late 1980s."

Mr Davis was chairman of Northdown Road Traders Association and was deeply committed to the regeneration of Thanet.

He is also be remembered by many as a band leader and drummer, playing for generations of dancers across the area at venues like the Orchid Ballroom and the Lido.