SIX decades of providing York food lovers with fine produce from around the world has come to an end with the closure of a popular family-run store.

Hundreds of customers squeezed into Whiting’s Delicatessen in Bootham on Wednesday to bid farewell to Tony and Pat Hugill, who retire this week after running the shop since 1978.

The Hugills described themselves as “caretakers of the shop” in acknowledgement of Doris Whiting, Mrs Hugill’s mother, who built up the shop’s formidable reputation in the 1950s thanks to her willingness to stock high-quality unusual and exotic products. Mr Hugill said: “The shop was founded by my mother-in-law in 1951 in Heworth and moved to these premises in 1959. Even in the 50s the shop was selling things you would not expect to find anywhere else.”

Stocklists from the 1960s included smoked oysters, canned octopus, lobster tails and even frogs’ legs.

They were all to be found on the shelves of Whiting’s, at a time when Britain was much more conservative in its food tastes.

Mr Hugill joined his wife in the family business in 1978 after a career in the railways, and the couple carried on maintaining the high reputation of the store.

Now, with their own children enjoying successful careers in other areas, the couple said they felt it was the right time to retire.

“It’s been two generations and it’s been nice while it lasted,” said Mr Hugill. “It’s nice to reach a point where you can say ‘that’s the end’.

“We have so many people expressing sorrow that we are closing and that it’s the end of an era for them, but they have been very gracious in their comments saying they are happy for us.” Mr and Mrs Hugill also own the building, but are keeping tight-lipped on the future of the premises for now.