Gurdas Ram, 82, and wife Meeto Kaur, 86, bought Pauls - a well-known shop in Wolverhampton - over 40 years ago and have now decided to close the shutters for good in an emotional goodbye to their regulars.
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00:00Loads of thanks to the community. They look after us very well.
00:04Because of them, my family had bread and butter, you know.
00:09We are very, very pleased the way they look after.
00:12We are going to miss them badly.
00:15My name is Kudas Boonpoe, and I'm 82 years old.
00:22And my background, I'm from Bedford.
00:25I came to Wolverhampton on the 16th of May, 1983.
00:32And I had two sisters in Wolverhampton.
00:35They were all in the shop business.
00:38And every time we'd sit together, they would say,
00:41why don't you come to the shop business?
00:44My brother-in-law, he found this shop through the counsellor.
00:48First thing, he gave us bread and butter to my family.
00:54And you talk to the community, laugh and joke.
01:01Our shop is not a shop.
01:04If you stand there, it's like a community centre.
01:09People come, talk to loads of people.
01:12They pass, they don't want to buy anything.
01:14They just come to the shop, talk five minutes.
01:17You know, it's good.
01:19Now, the community help us a lot.
01:23Community here help us a lot.
01:27Well, when we were having problems, you know,
01:29smashed a window and all that, you know.
01:32And they always rang to the police,
01:34why don't you sort this out and all that, you know.
01:37And very, very helpful.
01:40They choose to come to the shop, you know.
01:43And talk to us, don't worry, we are with you.
01:47Don't worry, we are with you.
01:49And they help us.
01:51What we are going to miss, you know, in the shop,
01:54we are going to miss badly.
01:57I mean badly.
01:59All the community, especially little children.
02:02Little children, you know.
02:05Because they all, loads of them,
02:08come walk into the shop, straight away behind the counter.
02:13Tell little children or something else.
02:17And they just stand there.
02:19And they will say to the customer or their mum and dad,
02:22at 20 pence a piece,
02:2520 pence a piece.
02:27And the loads of dogs,
02:30they come, you know, for a treat.
02:33They just sit here.
02:35They won't move till we treat them.
02:39So, we are going to miss all this.
02:42I mean, I'm 82.
02:44You know, I can't do much now.
02:48You know, so, we may go to India for a few weeks.
02:53Because I didn't go to India for the last 19 years.
02:57Yeah, wife used to go every two years.
03:01She didn't, because of the COVID, she didn't go for five years.
03:04So, I think we will go to India for a couple of months.
03:08Loads of thanks to the community.
03:10They look after us very well.
03:12Because of them, my family had bread and butter.
03:16You know, we are very, very pleased the way they look after.
03:20We are going to miss them badly.
03:23But we are still going to live here.
03:25And we will see, you know, when we are working
03:27and going to the pub and all that, you know.
03:29And when we come to the shop, you know, for bread and butter.
03:33Yeah.