After four decades of trading, Stainton Wines in Kendal, Cumbria, will close its doors at the end of February.

Chris Leather, who is a joint shareholder along with Frank Stainton, explains that with Frank recently celebrating his 80th birthday, they felt the time was right to “hang up our corkscrews”.

At one point the business was direct importing around 70% of its stock. “We’re a traditional wine merchants,” says Leather.

“We have our own little patch, and we’re quite happy with that. Luckily, it’s a nice patch with lots of hotels and top restaurants in it. Our wholesale is a good 85% I would guess.

“The shop’s good. We’ve got regular clientele, but we’re not on a high street; we’re slightly out of sight. But trying to be a high street presence, like Majestic or something, and the money you have to spend to do that – it’s never been worth it to us.

“A lot of our private customers have been guests at one of the hotels we supply and if they’ve enjoyed a particular wine that maybe only one or two other people have in the country, they then become private customers. We’ve never really analysed it.

“We were keeping our powder dry regarding closing,” he continues. “We’re doing it on our own terms. We’ve given our trade customers two months’ notice so they can get into gear and find another supplier and I will be in the shop probably until the end of February to sell off the remaining stock.

“We own the building, so if anyone is thinking of expanding into the Lake District with an industrial warehouse, by all means give us a shout!”