A BED shop that has helped thousands of townspeople sleep easy for almost 70 years has closed.

Bicester Beds has been a familiar sight in the town’s Market Square since 1947, when it was opened as a furniture shop by Dennis Lisseter.

The Wright family shut up shop for good on Saturday, May 10, as David, 62, and Lynn, 60, retired.

Over the years the family believe they have sold in the region of 50,000 beds to people in Bicester and the surrounding area.

Lynn, whose family lived above the store, joined her dad on the shop floor as “soon as she could carry a chair”, worked Saturdays during her school years, then full time when she finished her education.

She said: “My dad was a slave driver.

“I have worked in the business for 45 years.”

The shop has been a real family affair.

Former county netball player Mrs Wright’s three daughters, Hayley Collier, 34, Bonnie Webber, 30, and Danielle Bamber, 22, have followed in her footsteps, and her late sister Denise Lisseter also worked in the shop.

Mrs Webber joined full-time when she left school in 2000 and even met her husband in the job when he worked there as a Saturday boy.

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