THERE was not a dry eye in sight when a long serving family business closed its doors on Friday after 76 years of trading in the Fordingbridge.

C Harrison and Son has closed after seven decades of selling stamps, stationary and newspapers to Fordingbridge folk.

Owner Caroline Harrison-Keen together her long standing staff, Jenny Chapman, Pauline Elkins, Gilly Pearce, Sue Hayward and Alisa Bowers, many of whom have clocked up more than 30 years of service, closed the doors with heavy hearts at 5pm.

The High Street shop, C Harrison, was opened by Charles Harrison in 1939, coinciding with the outbreak of war.

Although a stationers, the shop was known primarily as a tobacconist.

An exodus of people scrambled to the country from London and other major cities, includes Charles' son Bert, who was moved from London to Salisbury with his firm Nestle.

Bert and his family moved in with Charles and his wife Alice, setting up home above the stationers.

Bert had a wealth of contacts in the city and used them to stock the shop with Fordingbridge Writing pads, which are still printed today albeit with a different name - The Fordingbridge Notebook.

Charles changed the name of the shop from C Harrison to C Harrison and Son.

A bitter blow was served in the family when Bert died in 1943. His wife Ivy helped Charles and Alice run the store, even after the war ended, until Charles died in 1948.

Ivy and Alice ran the shop together until 1951 when Ivy's eldest son Peter, took the reins after his service ended with the Navy.

Wartime shortages had meant that the shop was sometimes short of supplies, however by the early 1950s with the abolition of cigarette rationing by tobacco companies, the shelves started to swell once again with cigars, cigarettes, tobacco and smokers' sundries.

Alice died in 1962 and Peter invited his brother David to help him run the business. The shop expanded into the back room, which allowed the range of household stationary, birthday cards, artists material and commercial stationary to increase.

During the 1960s and the early 1970s, a new shop front was constructed. Confectionary was stocked for the first time.

In 1998 Peter retired and David's daughter Caroline became a partner in the business.

David died in 2011 leaving Caroline running C Harrison and Son single handedly, but, with the support of her loyal and trusted staff, the shop carried on.

As the store opened its doors for the very last time on Friday, Caroline said: "We stopped socking tobacco products in January 2013 after continual break-ins and thefts, which were all tobacco related.

"Over recent years we have sadly experienced the demise of the High Street and contrary to rumour, the decision to close was made. After long discussions with Peter, it was decided, setting emotional ties aside, for business it was the only option.

"It is a sad but the start of a new era. On behalf of the Harrison family, I would like to thank the staff and customers, past and present. for your loyalty and support. We have had some good and bad times together but on the whole, we have been left with happy and occasionally unusual memories."