Chas N Pedlar & Son of Ilfracombe was honoured at Home Hardware's recent convention for having been a member of the organisation for half a century.
An engraved crystal decanter was presented to Nick Pedlar, who started working in Chas N Pedlar as a child in 1953 and can remember helping to unpack Coronation mugs from large crates filled with damp straw. Chas, Mr Pedlar's father, joined Home Hardware in 1963, shortly after it was founded.

After leaving school in 1964, Nick Pedlar joined Dingles in Plymouth and then travelled to London in 1966 to work for Daks Simpson menswear, before returning to Ilfracombe nine months later to work in the family business.

Mr Pedlar has been chairman of Ilfracombe Traders for 10 years and director of the North Devon Chamber of Commerce. He is also a director of music at Ilfracombe Parish Church and chairman of the Exeter Cathedral Old Choristers Association.