Popular Higham Ferrers newsagent set to retire after more than 40 years

But now he is the one making the headlines as he prepares to leave the job, his business and finally retire at the end of the month.

Although he says he will continue to get out of bed at 4.30am just as he has always done since opening the Higham Newsagents shop back in 1985 as getting up early will always be a way of life for him.

He also plans to take a leisurely stroll from his home in Higham Ferrers back to the centre of the town to buy a newspaper from his old shop, but this time as a customer.

Vijay said: “I will be 70 in August, and although I am still fit enough to work, I think it is time to retire. My wife, Bina, also deserves more of my time.”

Bina has helped her husband in the shop over the years, but never on a full-time basis.

Vijay said: “She comes in now and then, more to socialise with the customers.”

Vijay’s family came to England from Uganda back in 1972 after President Idi Amin expelled thousands of Asians from the country, giving them just 90 days to pack a single suitcase and leave.

Most, like Vijay, held British passports and settled in England, carving out new lives for themselves.

He said: “We were penniless and had nothing.”

But within 24 hours of getting off the plane in England, 16-year-old Vijay had found two jobs – full-time work in an industrial laundry and a part-time job in the evenings making commercial paint brushes.

When the Higham Ferrers newsagent’s shop came up for sale, Vijay and his family, which had been looking for such an opportunity, snapped it up.

It did not take long for Vijay to settle in and he quickly became part of the Higham Ferrers community.

With his first language being Gujarati, he also found that reading the newspapers that he sold in the shop helped him gain a greater understanding of English. And it was not long before he became a fluent English speaker.

He says that the business is not so much about making money, but being part of the local community and chatting with customers about the various issues and news of the day.

He said: “Customers love to chat about what is on their mind and we have conversations about what concerns them, politics, the state of the economy, cost of living…you name it.”

As well as having forged friendships with countless customers, he is also an important person in the lives of the many paperboys and papergirls who got their first jobs delivering newspapers around the town for him.

One former paperboy, Christian Parker, said: “He has given an opportunity to countless people to make money at a young age. I didn’t mind getting up early or in the cold because I was still making money.”

While people’s priorities and lifestyles have changed over the years, Vijay said: “They still want newspapers.”

He will miss the work and the regular contact with the people who are not just customers but also friends, although he is certain that he will see them again around the town.