Jeremy Clarkson and Rowan Atkinson visit Oxford shop

For Bob and Isobel Avery, who ran Ducker & Son, Oxford's world-famous shoe shop, it proved to be a long goodbye at the start of 2017.

The couple featured signs in the window of the iconic store at 6 Turl Street informing loyal customers that they were shutting the shop for good for months. 

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We took a dip through our archives to remember the loss of a popular store. 

Since the store opened in 1898 Duckers had been synonymous with the art of shoemaking but by 2017, bespoke Oxford Brogues were no longer for sale.

The Averys were unable to find a suitable buyer to take over the lease and the shop closed for the last time at the end of February 2017.

The store's historic ledgers and fixtures and fittings were removed, but so many loyal customers continued knocking on the door to thank the Averys that they didn't have the heart to take down the sign over the door for months before the official closure. 

Historic ledgers revealing the shoe-buying habits of famous names over the years including author JRR Tolkien and First World War flying ace were handed to auctioneers Mallams.

Father-of-four Bob Avery, 71, a former pupil of Cowley St John Boys School, said at the time: "I started out in shoe repairs for Woolworths in Cornmarket in 1968 and began working here full-time in 1990. 

"When we retire I won't have to get up at 5am to start in the workshop."

"The problem with a shop like this is that in a sense you stand still in time - it is very traditional and has an old-fashioned ethic.

"Customers are greeted as 'sir' or 'madam' and we thank them for their custom when they go out the door.

"We are like the dinosaurs of the high street because we are the only ones left."

Mr Avery said after he and his wife took over the shop in 1990 they brightened then place up and succeeded in giving it an air of prosperity.

"It's ironic we are closing now because we are closing at the top of our business."