By Hayley Robinson

It's the end of an era for a Sittingbourne family of newsagents.

After 35 years of trading, D n J Smith, in East Street, will close its doors for good on Saturday, April 2.

Nick Smith, who runs the business with his mum Joan, decided it was time to call time on the business due to ill health.

It was also getting too much for his 74-year-old mother who still works at the shop seven days a week for a few hours a day.

Closing down signs were placed in the windows of the double-fronted shop on Tuesday.

Mr Smith, 42, said: "We’ve both had enough of doing seven days a week and I work 14-hour days.

"We have six members of staff at the moment. A couple of them are looking for other jobs but the others are over retirement age so they’re being made redundant.

"They understand but it’s still sad."

The business was started by Joan and her late husband Don in 1976 when they bought it from their neighbour Wally Barnes.

The couple extended the shop when they bought the property next door 10 years later. Then in 1996 they purchased number 48.

Their son Nick, who first started working at the shop as a paper boy, took over the running of the shop when Don passed away on November 6, 2009.

Mr Smith added: "It’s all I’ve ever known - I’ve never done anything else. I worked here before I left school."

Mr Smith and his mother still own the three buildings as they were unable to sell the business.

However, Chris Patel, owner of Murston stores, in Murston Road, plans to lease one half of the shop and run a newsagents from the site starting on May 5. It will be known as Chris’s Store.

Subject to planning permission, Mr Smith said he hopes to convert the empty shop unit and the living space above both shops into flats.

He also plans to redevelop number 48 which is currently derelict.