A local high street where "customers become family" feels like it's frozen in time.
The snow didn't stop people from venturing to Pensby Road in Wirral this week to get their groceries or pick up a fresh pork pie. The small high street sits at the heart of the village and is set back off the main road, with only one way in and out of it.
It's home to a number of long standing independent businesses, from a butcher's to a bakery, a florist and a fruit and veg shop.
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What was once a familiar site on high streets up and down the country is now what sets Pensby Road apart from other areas, with many of its businesses having stayed in the same families for decades. We went to meet the people behind the businesses this week to find out how they've managed to keep their customers shopping local.
"You've got to change with the times"
It's 10.30am on a Wednesday and a steady stream of customers are filing through the doors of H. Jones & Sons ahead of lunchtime.
Owner Gary stops to speak to me in between serving customers everything from pork sausages to marinated Moroccan chicken and carrot cake. The 60-year-old has run the butchers for the last 23 years, with his daughter Holly, 32, coming on the board more than 10 years ago.
Gary told the ECHO: "I sell quality meat and I'm lucky that there's a good fruit and veg shop next door that sells quality products as well. I think people like to buy quality.
"Plus the staff we have are all polite and nice to the customers, so we get a lot of loyal customers who come into the shop which is nice.
"Covid was very good for us in the sense that we got a lot of new customers; people fed up with going to supermarkets and choosing to come here and next door to get their fruit and veg.
"If you ever watch a film on television from the 60s or maybe early 70s, when you're walking down the street or a car's going past you can see a butcher's, a fruit and veg shop, the newsagent; you can see all these shops and that doesn't really exist anymore, but luckily enough here it does."
Gary said the shop has had to diversify the products they offer over the years to keep up with changes in shopping habits. The shop now stocks everything from sweet treats like cakes, cannoli and fresh jams, alongside traditional meat and fat free options.
Gary added: "You've got to change with the times. A lot of people have fat free sausages and meat with all fat cut off."
"We've had it as a family business for about 35 years"
Fraser Lapsley took over Fresh Fruits, a fruit and veg shop on Pensby Road, from his parents Pat and John. What started off as a Saturday job at the age of 16 has since become a full-time job for Fraser, which requires him to get up in the middle of the night to visit markets and hand pick the produce himself.
The 48-year-old told the ECHO: "We've had it as a family business for about 35 years. It's hard work. You end up doing more and more yourself. It becomes hard trying to do different things.
"I do all the buying, getting up early, getting right produce. If I wouldn't eat it I wouldn't expect anyone else to eat it."
Instead of trying to compete with what the supermarkets are doing, Fraser said they instead focus on sourcing quality products. He's also keen to support local farms and businesses in the area by stocking their products, from Heswall gin to fresh eggs from West Kirkby.
Fraser's parents previously had a second shop just down the road which focused on selling groceries, but this closed more than 15 years ago.
Fraser added: "We do have a good following of loyal customers who come down from West Kirby, Heswall and other parts of the Wirral. As a community it's nice."
"It's very much the heart of the Pensby area this shop"
It's the customers and the community that Donna McDougall said she loves most about her job as a manager of Reebees florist, which is next door to Fresh Fruits. Donna runs the shop with the help of her son Anthony White, 27, and colleague Katie Harding, having worked there for 13 years.
Donna, 48, told the ECHO: "It's very much the heart of the Pensby area this shop. It's a family shop. Customers become family and friends.
"We've had people who came in as kids to buy mum a bouquet and hid behind the counter so mum couldn't see - and they're still coming in now.
"I love my job. It's the love for the job that keeps you going."
The shop prides itself in providing traditional flowers, which Donna describes as "what you see is what you get."
During the height of the pandemic, Anthony said: "My mum was the only florist around that stayed open during covid and made sure anyone that wanted flowers through covid for a funeral got them.
"We did them behind closed doors and stuck to all the rules. At one point, only 15 people could go to a funeral - mum made sure the family all got photos of them."
"Lazy people" have kept me in business
Yvonne Hazelhurst, 68, set up her laundry and dry cleaning business, Star Ironing, on Pensby Road back in 2005. Yvonne decided to move her business there after her previous shop was knocked down by a developer and replaced by Tesco.
Asked how she's been able to keep the business going all these the years, Yvonne smiles and says "lazy people. From men who happen to say to their wife 'you don't do as good as my mum', to young men who have left home and can't do it.
"I come in at seven in the morning, get the coffee on, radio on and stay here till 4'oclock when it's time to go home. I do that do five to six days a week. You get paid per item so depending on how much money you want to earn and the work you want to do.
Yvonne said she's seen her customers grow from being young and single to getting married and having children of their own. She added: "Everybody knows everyone. People move here because their son or daughter have or they were brought up here."
"Since the price increases and the cost of living, bizarrely enough we've got busier"
The family run theme of businesses on Pensby Road continues at Gerrards' bakery - a firm which has been in the same family for 185 years. With shops across Wales and Chester and Wirral, the bakery has built up a loyal following of customers in Pensby, from workmen stopping off on their lunch break to mums from a local mum and baby group.
Staff at the Pensby bakery said it broke all records with its sales last week, despite the challenges of the cost of living crisis.
Staff member Lynne Braden, 52, said: "Since the price increases and the cost of living, bizarrely enough we've got busier."
Lynne thinks the increase in customers buying hot food such as pies and pasties, could be due to people trying to avoid using their ovens amid rising energy bills. She said: "During covid a lot of people started shopping local and I think people have stayed with it.
"You can get everything you need here - you got the butcher's, bakers, you've got everything. I think the younger generations like to shop local now.
"There's this whole thing about shopping local, supporting local businesses. We do have a large elderly population in Pensby. I think having parking outside is a big thing."
Staff member Debbie Clements told the ECHO: "You get what you pay for. With regulars you have to have a bit of banter with them, whether it's a workman or an elderly person.
"A lot of elderly people that come in haven't spoken to anyone all day."
From speaking to businesses on Pensby Road this week, it was clear to see how they've had to adapt their offerings over the years to survive changes in shopping habits and rising prices.
But it's great to see these independents still going strong in a difficult climate and showing the importance of shopping local.
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