Name: Mr. Catlin
Business Name: Catlins
What does your business do? Apart from trying my patience and costing me money? We sell a lot of pipes, tobaccos, cigars, and a fair amount of chocolate. We also sell greetings cards, Fairtrade coffee, loose tea and speciality biscuits. Everything bad for your morals but good for your soul.
How long have you been running the business? I acquired it in 2000 when it was on a chequered slide towards obscurity.
What was on the premises before? It’s been a tobacconist since 1915. The owner converted what was then a large Elizabethan house into three shops for his sons for after the war. Number 73 was a picture framer and photographer, number 72 was a watchmaker, and this one, 71, was to be a tailor but that was the son who didn’t return. His wife ran it as a tobacconist instead.
What are your most expensive goods? One or two pipes at just under £100 each, and extremely large Cuban cigars at £28 each. Then the Charbonnel and Walker champagne truffles at £20.
And the cheapest? Fruit salad sweets at 1p each.
And the most unusual? I suppose some of the black Kwa Zulu tea - it’s South African and it has a really rich flavour and aroma. Also Mayan style orange and geranium chocolate - it’s organic and made in a pig farm near Chichester.
What sort of people use the shop? Everyone from 5 to 105. Children, students, OAPs and visitors who scream with delight at how old-fashioned we are when they see the loose sweets and tea.
Is their anything that annoys you about running your shop? Well, it’s not big enough. Also it is difficult to adapt to changing tastes. The constant seeking of novelty is a difficult trait to keep up with.