Turning marshland into a Broads retail institution

However, Lathams' one million annual visitors come to rummage through the cluttered shelves and racks for something they won't find at How Hill or Ranworth – bargains.

While the store was subsumed into the Norwich-based QD retail group back in the 1980s, managing-director Justin Farrington Smith recognises the fact they are still the guardians of what founder Ken Latham fondly called his 'piscatorial paradise'.

He said: 'When we bought Lathams, we found we had acquired more than just bricks and mortar. We met customers from far and wide who had been coming to the store for many years and continue to this day.

'Lathams' clearly has a place in people's hearts and we have set to task over recent years enhancing the visitor experience, notably with the new restaurant on site.'

With further building and refurbishment work about to start, Lathams would remain a very special value shopping destination on the Broads for years to come, he added.

Robert Paul, president of the Museum of the Broads, at Stalham Staithe, has researched the history surrounding Mr Latham and his two business partners, sisters Doreen and Joan Adams, ahead of the anniversary.

Earlier this year the museum opened an exhibition devoted to what Mr Paul described as 'a real Broads story' with Mr Latham's old pike fishing boat – which he used to ferry anglers up and down river – taking pride of place.

The boat, painstakingly restored by volunteers Ian Willcox and Ivor Broughton, was donated by surviving sister Joan Adams, 90, who helped Mr Paul piece together the history.

He said: 'The family of Joan leant me some albums that allowed me to put together the history of the store when it was just a marsh.'

Mr Latham, who hailed from Stoke-on-Trent, had apparently fallen in love with the Broads, especially Potter Heigham, and described the River Thurne setting as 'God's own country'.

Mr Paul said: 'After serving in the RAF during the second world war, Mr Latham returned to Stoke. But it was not long before he realised there was only one place he wanted to be – the Norfolk Broads.

'He sold some land in Stoke, found and secured a plot near the river in Potter Heigham, and his next job was to convince the two most important women in his life, Doreen and Joan Adams, that they should chance everything and come to Norfolk with him.

'The three of them, together with Ken's mother, all made the move to Norfolk and lived in a caravan on the plot.

'Ken began to plan what was to be the largest fishing shop on the Broads if not East Anglia. It was a big job as the land he had bought was just marsh. He managed to convince his bank manager and secured a loan and the work began.'

The store was immediately successful when it opened in 1963 and the trading space grew and grew.

'With his connections in Stoke, Ken started to specialise in china and crockery, shipping stock in,' said Mr Paul.

Mr Latham then turned his attention to building a luxury bungalow home next door for him, the sisters and his mother.

Mr Paul said: 'He did not stop there. He had always wanted his own 'broad' so he dug one. He constructed the most beautiful water gardens that still exist today.'

When Mr Latham became ill in the 1980s he found he could no longer cope with the day-to-day running of the business and decided to sell up; QD Stores took over but retained the now famous name of Lathams of Potter Heigham.

Mr Paul said: 'Today, Lathams attracts one million visitors a year and is part of the Broads just as much as the windmills and Roys of Wroxham.'

Lathams' longest-serving employee, Bronia Williams, 55, has worked at the store – 'just a three-minute journey from my home in Repps with Bastwick' – since 1972 and vividly remembers Mr Latham as a 'very friendly, very generous man'.

She said: 'I started as a 14-year-old schoolgirl working at Lathams during the holidays and at weekends and became full-time when I was 16; I have been here ever since without a break.'

Mrs Williams recalled that from the early days, 'everyone was friendly and it was a nice shop to work in'.

She said: 'Ken dealt with the fishing department and used to go to Stoke to buy china. In those days customers used to buy whole dinner sets. It was very expensive china.'

Joan Adams had focused on the grocery department while her sister had specialised in giftware, clothes and china. She said: 'There were more holidaymakers on boats than there are now, but there were not the coaches we now get coming from the holiday parks.

'In the early days, it went very quiet between the end of October and Easter.'

Mrs Williams said for many years they used to make up orders each day for holidaymakers on the boats and take the groceries over the road to Herbert Woods on trolleys all labelled with names.

She said: 'Since QD took over, it has become busy all year round and the shop sells different things and cheaper things.

'A lot of customers come every year and I get stopped several times a day by people who say, 'you are still here then'.'

Over the years, she has seen a number of celebrities come into Lathams, including actress Elizabeth Dawn (AKA Vera Duckworth) and comedian Jim Davidson.

'Cliff Richard has also been in during trips to the Broads although I have never seen him,' she said.

Mrs Williams will have the task of cutting a celebration cake at the store's anniversary day on Saturday, October 26.

She said: 'Some retired staff will be coming back for the events.'

Ann Sharman, 46, who started work at Lathams 31 years ago and went on to manage the store for nine years, revealed how her family had helped to shape the store's history.

Now the trading support manager at QD's Norwich head office, she said: 'My father Norman used to own the marshland where the store is built; one day Ken knocked on his door and said he wanted to buy it. That led to a close connection with my family, and Mr Latham even took my mum to hospital when she had me.'

She said she was offered her first job at Lathams while she was at school and after a spell at college started full-time.

'I had some great years working with Ken. Every week he would drive to Stoke and come back with china such as Royal Doulton and Worcester,' she said.

Mr Latham and the Adams sisters had been very charity minded and used to support local good causes, she recalled.