She said she was selling so she could have a quieter pace of life and enjoy semi-retirement.
“I will come in and have a look round,” she said.
“I’ll be sorry not to see the regular customers and doing the ordering, hiring and firing, I’ll miss all of that.”
The upstairs of the shop now sells tea and cake and Duncan, who runs the counter, said he hoped it could continue.
“It’s a meeting place for lots of locals and it’s got a good local clientele,” he said.
The business is described as “one of the finest trading positions in the town” in its listing by Ernest Wilson.
Although the shop’s name boasts it is the oldest chemist in England, the shop ceased operating as a pharmacy in 1998.
The oldest one still trading in England today is Reavley’s, in Burford, Oxfordshire, which has been open since 1734.
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