The Beatles went there, Bond girl Honor Blackman got her cigarettes there, and it was even frequented by a man who could pick you up in a shovel and headbutt a cabbage into smithereens.

And yet, while that guest list might rival any TV show in history, the real stars of the show were Tony and June Briggs – the couple who ran AL Briggs general stores in West Malling until it closed in 1988.

While many old village shops are sorely missed, Briggs' is especially fondly remembered as the only shop open for miles around on a Sunday by those who used it to get essential items they'd run out of, and of course sweets and cigarettes.

But perhaps its place in history is more down to Tony himself, who is remembered as something of a celebrity with an encyclopaedic knowledge of West Malling.

Writing for The Malling Times, a one-off newspaper produced by journalist David Kemp for the millennium, Tony gave a fascinating account of the shop's story, and the wider history of the the town.

"When I closed the shop, a general store in King Street, in December 1988 and retired, it was exactly 100 years after my great grandfather started the firm," he wrote. "The business went from Arthur Briggs to Ernest, to Leslie and then back to A Briggs again – Anthony.

"When Teddy Foreman retired in 1946 my family bought his shop at what is now The Bakery restaurant.

"I remember standing as a boy in the bakehouse with my father as Mr Foreman explained that the door in the corner of the building led to the well yard – and told us a gruesome tale.

"When he was a young lad, one of the householders fell down it while drawing water. The police and others desperately tried to rescue him but failed. The well was sealed off and never used again. And the body is still down the well.

"Before the war, my grandfather Ernest Briggs used to run what he called a 'Contra Account' with Tom Longhurst from the forge next to his shop in King Street.

"The system was simple: Tom made bread tins and trays and shoed our horse, while Ernest supplied the bread, cakes and flour that Tom needed. Then at Christmas they would meet at The Bull to compare accounts and settle the difference."

Tony recalled working in the bakehouse in the 1950s with his father, Leslie, and how the busiest time was Easter, producing bread, simnel cakes and hot cross buns.

"I said 'Do you know you are the image of Honor Blackman, the actress and Bond girl?' The lady replied 'I am Honor Blackman'..."

"We would start work on the Wednesday night before Easter producing bread etc for Thursday, finishing mid-morning that day," he added. "After an hour's break we'd start on the hot cross buns, working right through Thursday until the early hours of Good Friday before starting on that day's bread production.

"After producing thousands of hot cross buns, my father would draw the final tray of buns from the oven, tip them on to a wooden tray, pick out the last one and throw it the full length of the bakehouse, shouting, 'that's the little xxxxxxx I've been looking for'.

"He would then nail it to the ceiling with the others from the previous years. When it had cooled he varnished it to preserve it."

He also recalled famous customers had visited the store, including the Beatles while they were in West Malling to film The Magical Mystery Tour, and how in the mid 1980s a glamorous lady called in the shop in King Street and bought 60 Silk Cut Kingsize.

He added: "I said 'Do you know you are the image of Honor Blackman, the actress and Bond girl?' The lady replied 'I am Honor Blackman'.

"Another time, the singer Rose Marie came in. Our neighbour Alice Brooker, who was at the counter, recognised her and rushed into her house to get a record of Rose Marie's and asked her to sign it.

"In the 1970s we added paperbacks and magazines to our range of commodities. We had two racks, one containing cowboy, detective and romantic stories etc. The other contained magazines, mostly girlie pin ups.

"They were slightly risqué but not over naughty. I didn't realise it but the jungle telegraph began to buzz about my magazines. And one day, Mrs Young, the vicar's wife stormed in and lectured me about the sins of the flesh etc.

"After a prolonged broadside she told me that although she couldn't stop me selling the magazines she would reduce my stock by taking them home and destroying them.

"I thought, 'that sounds pretty good to me'. So she started clearing the book rack until she had got nearly £25 worth. I boxed them for her and she gave me a cheque and away she went, saying 'I'll light a bonfire with these'.

"I then realised she hadn't taken the girlie mags – only the paperbacks.

"Malling has always had 'great characters' – like Barry Stone whose memorial is the big rock outside what was his barber's shop in King Street. Another was Frank 'Bob Dog' Hooker who played football for Town Malling United barefooted.

"He lived as a boy in King Street, a really rough, tough area where the police always walked in twos.

"Later, 'Bob Dog' lived at Ryarsh in a bungalow with an earth floor and had chickens and pigs in with him. One of his party tricks was to head a 4lb Dutch cabbage continually until it shattered.

"He could also pick you up in a shovel."

Sadly, Tony died in 2018 but he lives in the memories of his friends and family – and most of all in the heart of wife June, who still lives in the house next door but one to the old shop.

The couple had met when attending school together at Snodland Central, now Holmesdale, but didn't seen each other for years until they met again in 1974, after Tony's first wife had died.

Having been brought up in New Hythe and then living in Larfkfield and Aylesford, June moved to West Malling in 1976.

"I think I've just about been accepted now," joked June, who will be 87 in December. She recalled many of the old stories mentioned by Tony in his article for The Malling Times, but said the story about Honor Blackman had either been misremembered or lost in translation.

"I served Honor Blackman," explained June. "I thought she looks familiar and said 'you look just like Honor Blackman' and she said 'I am'. I remember she had a smoker's voice.

"Then Tesco started to sell cigarettes cheaper than we could – that was another nail in the coffin..."

"I remember the Beatles too – they parked outside in their psychedelic Rolls Royce. I don't know what they bought but Tony's sister was in the shop at the time."

Recalling the story of the vicar's wife, she added: "I wasn't here but apparently she came in and was most disgusted. She bought the whole lot and said she was going to burn them on a bonfire.

"We wondered if she read them first. They weren't anything awful.

"I remember Barry (the hairdresser) – he was a very big chap. When Barry cut your hair it stayed cut. It was a very short cut. It was where the cafe is now. He used to sit on the stone in between customers."

The tale of the shop's demise is a familiar one in villages and towns across the country, where small business have been gradually wiped out by supermarkets and garages.

"Our shop was the only shop open for miles around on a Sunday," recalled June. "But when Parkfoot (the garage on London Road) opened they started taking some of our trade.

"Then Tesco started to sell cigarettes cheaper than we could – that was another nail in the coffin.

"Eventually we got into too much debt and decided we had to call it a day.

"Before that we were quite busy and Sunday was our busiest day. We used to open 9am to 9pm every day except Monday, when we closed at 5pm.

"We weren't always busy but we had to be there. We would be in the front room next door, so if someone rang the bell we would go into the shop.

"It was a tie more than anything but Tony's sisters would come to help out. I was working at Reed Medway Sacks from the early 60s until the early 80s – then we had about 10 years working together at the shop until we closed.

"It was very strange. People came in and said 'you can't be closing, what are we going to do?' But it was also such a relief.

"Suddenly we had all the time in the world to do what we wanted. I went to South Africa to visit my eldest daughter. I took my mum on holiday to Eastbourne, which wasn't as exotic, and spent a week with my sister in Bedford – even more exotic.

"We went out on days out and pottered about. Tony discovered he was a pretty good gardener. We went on trips to North Wales and Cornwall.

"He died on July 5, 2018. He was 83. I'm nine months younger – I'm 87 next month. It's scary. I've said if I make it to 90 I'll get a tattoo and go out clubbing – but that's just sheer bravado!"