NEARLY 140 years of butchery comes to an end this afternoon when the stalls in Darlington's Covered Market are packed away and Don Manson retires.

Don is calling it a day at the age of 78, having started on Harrison's stall as an order boy aged 13.

"After 50-odd years, you can imagine it will be a little bit hard to leave," said Don. "I'm going to miss it all, but especially the customers - I do a lot more talking than selling anyway.

"It is sad. A lot of the customers have been crying - I didn't know I was so popular."

It is not just Don's era that is ending. Because C Harrison and Sons has been selling meat on Darlington market since John Twentyman Harrison set himself up as a butcher in 1869.

And the name is even older. C Harrison and Sons originally started in 1799 as bellhangers and whitesmiths, a now little-known trade involving finishing and polishing metal.

Don bought the business from Samuel Harrison, John Twentyman's grandson, in 1986. He has been working the stall with wife Dorothy, son Keith and daughter Carol, and now granddaughter Lorraine.

Don joined Harrison's in 1940 when still at Albert Road School.

"People would ask for their meat to be delivered, and I had a pushbike with a big metal carrier and basket on the front, and I'd deliver right out into the villages," said Don.

War brought rationing, but Harrison's ensured that customers got what they wanted. "Absolutely there was a black market," said Don.

"When the farmers came in for Monday market, they'd fetch the butter and eggs in, and it was my job to make sure that nobody was watching."

After National Service in India with the Artillery and Egypt with the Military Police, Don returned to Darlington, and after working on the railways went back into butchery.

But the business has changed. Wholesalers have meant butchers no longer go to market; Don's slaughterhouse in Valley Street was probably the last in the town centre when it closed in 1988. And when Don started, there were 66 butchers plus 12 Co-op branches in Darlington. Today's Yellow Pages lists only 13 - including Harrison's.