The owners of Thorpes Home Hardware, Gosforth High Street's longest running shop have made the difficult decision to put their business on the market.

Thorpes of Gosforth was opened by Edward Thorpe, grandfather of current owners Colin and Peter Thorpe, back in 1947 and has been passed down the family since. Said Colin Thorpe: “It was a very difficult decision for us both to put the business up for sale. We will soon be retiring and our children have followed their own careers, so there is no one to carry on the business. We have therefore decided that the time is right to find a new owner to take over from us and continue running and growing the business for many years to come.

“We have really enjoyed running the shop and we are sure that our grandfather would be incredibly proud of the much loved local business which Thorpes has grown into over two more generations.”

Colin and Peter Thorpe have been members of Home Hardware Scotland since 2002. Keen advocates of the group, they even chose to pay their joining fee early rather than waiting for the end of their one year free trial. Colin Thorpe still attends the Home Hardware Members meetings on a regular basis, despite it being a 370 mile round trip.