'I'm 91 and get up at 3.45am to run my newsagents'

Walking inside Mellors newsagents is like stepping back in time to the golden age of the printed press.

The shop has barely changed since Gordon Bird first became a newsagent in 1976. Now 91, he is up at 03:45 every day to open the business alongside the 78-year-old assistant who has worked with him for nearly 50 years.

Gordon's shop is in the heart of mining country in the Barnsley village of Cudworth, and he was once a pitman himself before choosing a life above ground.

Mellors, which he bought in 2005 after running shops elsewhere, is one of the region's last traditional newsagents, where newspapers and stationery are the main items stocked.

Gordon began working in a newsgents in 1967, before buying his own business following his first wife's death in 1976. In the early years, he was still doing shifts underground at the colliery.

He has refused to offer the services that keep modern newsagents afloat, such as selling convenience food and drink and processing parcels.

"If you come to my shop, it is the old traditional newsagents that you used to go in 40 years ago," he says.

"We've not altered. We're not grocers - we are newsagents."

He sells newspapers, magazines, cards, stationery, jams and confectionery - but has conceded defeat on the point of sweets.

"We're now on to the pre-packed stuff, we don't do the weigh-out stuff at all now. It's bags of sweets."

Pat Anderson, 78, was working in a newsagents in Mexborough when Gordon bought the shop.

"We just said we'd give it six months and see how he got on and we still work together now - I think it's been about 46 years."

Since their move to Mellors in 2005, the two have built close relationships with generations of customers, including Joyce Jackson, 72, who often nips in to "keep an eye on things" so that Pat can take a quick break.

"Gordon and Pat are both fantastic, you couldn't ask for better people in the shop. I know for a fact, if I needed Pat or Gordon, they would be there," she smiles.

"I buy a magazine every week. The magazines, cards, everything, they're brilliant prices. It keeps you coming back."

The biggest change, and challenge, has been the decline in newspaper sales as customers switch to online news. Even loyal Joyce admits she only buys a paper "now and again".

According to figures from data analysis firm Statista, the number of UK stores specialising in newspapers and stationery fell from 4,597 in 2011 to 2,285 in 2023.

If they continue to close at this rate, there will be none left by 2035.

Gordon acknowledges that shopping habits have changed significantly over the past few decades.

"It's the older generation that's keeping us going," he admits.

"To my knowledge, in Barnsley, Goldthorpe, Cudworth and Hoyland, there are probably only two or three traditional newsagents left.

"There are probably 500 places in the area that sell newspapers, but they sell them like tins of beans at supermarkets. They're not newsagents."

Despite the pride he takes in his work, Gordon does not feel too optimistic about the long-term future of newsagents.

"I have to be perfectly honest, I don't think there is a future," he concedes.

"Unfortunately, the fee that we're charged for papers being delivered to us takes the biggest part of the profits."

He continues to open the shop every morning before dawn, a routine he has followed for decades.

While most people are still asleep, he is already preparing the shop for the day ahead, ensuring deliveries can go out on time and newspapers are ready for sale.

For customers, the shop has become more than a business - it is a place of routine, familiarity and memories.

"We get a lot of customers coming in here saying, 'it's lovely to walk into. It smells different. It smells like paper shops did when I was little'," says Pat.

Some of the first generation of Gordon's paper boys, now retired men, still visit their old employers.

"They know Gordon and he was really good with them. He used to host parties for his paper lads and all sorts," says Pat.

"They're still customers now. As soon as they knew he'd come back to Cudworth, they started coming back in, you see."

When not behind the counter, Gordon still enjoys reading the papers himself.

But is he planning on retiring up any time soon? Not likely, according to Pat.

"He's retired a few times. But he just can't relax. Work is his hobby. And when I get fed up of him, I send him over to his wife Hazel, and then when she gets fed up of him, she sends him back here," she laughs.

Their friend Joyce agrees.

"I think Gordon will keep going and going. I think if he stopped, he'd be stuck, he wouldn't know what to do," she says.

"He's really sociable. I've said a few times to Pat, can you remember [TV sitcom] Open All Hours? We could do that without having cameras. Because it's just like Open All Hours in here."

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