An old Whitstable shop is up for sale for the first time in more than 150 years.

Formerly home to WJ Cox printworks and stationers, established in 1863, number 37 Whitstable High Street was a familiar spot to buy newspapers, stationery and tobacco.

In its heyday, shoppers would have picked up the highly-regarded WJ Cox’s Guide to Whitstable and its Surroundings, which was published in 1876.

It’s the end of an era for artist Wendy Croft, who inherited the Victorian building from her maternal uncle, John Cox, who died in 2007.

“I literally promised him in his dying breath that I would do something with the shop to keep it going,” said Wendy, who now runs the Caxton Contemporary Gallery from the premises.

“It was a labour of love because the building was completely derelict and full of years of junk, and it took me a day to clear a square foot of floor space.”

Wendy unearthed a time capsule, discovering a jumble of Victorian notepaper and Edwardian seaside postcards, right through to glitzy 1980s stationery.

A picture of Wendy’s mother as a girl perched on a chair outside the shop, wearing a big frilly hat and a wide smile, slipped out on to the dusty floor amid teetering piles of postcards.

Her mother, Shelia Cox, had met Cyril Croft, of the famous port wine family, and founding partner of Canterbury solicitors Gardner and Croft, while they both worked for the firm of solicitors Cuthbert Gardner.

Wendy kept the image, which is thought to have been taken in the 1920s when Shelia was a girl of around six-years-old.

Builders set her a deadline to clear the shop before work on the gallery commenced, and Wendy resorted to putting a note on the door that read: “One day only – 150 years of stock to clear”.

“People were queuing outside the door and dealers turned up even though I hadn’t done any other advertising,” said Wendy, who also gave memorabilia to Whitstable Museum.

Wendy has spent the best part of the decade running the Caxton gallery but now says the time is right to focus on her own career as an artist.

“Running a gallery can be all-consuming and I don’t get time to do my own work,” she said.

Parting company with the building that has belonged to the Cox family for four generations and which was once home to the Caxton print works, will be a wrench, admits Wendy, whose great-grandfather, William John Cox, was proprietor of the print works at the rear, where the Whitstable Times was once published.

She said: “I would really like to see an independent business come in and enjoy the building.”

The guide price of £575,000 includes a retail space on the ground floor and office spaces and a cloakroom above. There is also a 50ft courtyard.

The property is offered for sale as a freehold commercial premises, with vacant possession on completion.

There may be potential for an extension and to convert the upper floors to residential use.

Potential buyers will find a small surprise in a room at the top where there is a panel that Wendy has kept next to the door.

It bears the signatures of the people who had worked in the room, including that of WJ Cox himself.

• For more information on the property, ring the agent on 01227 266441.