Learning the trade from the bottom up

Keith Hollingsworth has spent most of his life in shops. His mother owned a fabric and interiors shop and Hollingsworth spent much of his youth ‘‘hanging around’’, learning the trade from the bottom up. The experience he gained on his days off from school and during the summer holidays proved invaluable.

When his mother died in the 1980s, Hollingsworth left school and gradually took over the running of the shop. He was only ...