A Felixstowe card shop is celebrating 75 years of business – and has scooped an award for being the best card shop in the region.

John Barratt co-owns The Card Centre Shop on Hamilton Road with his brother, and takes care of the day-to-day running of the business.

He has been working there for the past 46 years, and is the third generation of his family to own and work in the building on Hamilton Road.

“My parents bought it in 1947 from my grandmother,” he explained. “Before that, it had been a café during the war.”

John’s maternal grandparents, Edith and Harry Bailey, had arrived in Felixstowe in the early 1930s, and set up ‘The White House Café' where the card shop now stands.

His parents, Mercia and Stan, converted the business into a sweets and tobacconist's shop when they purchased it, and by 1964, it had become a card shop.

John began working there in 1976 after completing a university course.

“The shop means a lot to me, which is why I haven’t retired!” he said.

Over the years, he has noticed customers’ tastes becoming “more discerning.”

He said: “A lot of customers come in because they’re looking for something specific. They know when they come here, they might find a card with a greyhound on it, or a chicken, a llama, or a Porsche.

“Our staff are very good. They will go to endless trouble to help people find what they’re looking for.

“We have several people who travel from a long way away, and buy six months’ worth of cards at a time.

“Just the other day, we had someone from South London, and then several people from Cambridge and one lady from Guilford come in regularly.”

John was also delighted that The Card Centre was named the Best Independent Greeting Card Retailer in East Anglia in this year’s Retas Awards.

He had previously won the award ten years ago in 2012, but said that winning this year felt a little more special.

“This time it meant more to me, because of getting through Covid. Keeping the shop going through the pandemic wasn’t easy, but we managed it,” he said.