THERE is no elaborate shop front, no fancy fittings, no clever lighting.

Sadie The Bra Lady is an unassuming, old-fashioned shop in the high street of a former North-East steel town. But over the last three decades, the eponymous owner, Sadie Ayton, has turned it into one of Britain's leading lingerie shops.

Consett is not noted for its high fashion. The heart was ripped out of the town when the steelworks closed 20 years ago and it has struggled with high unemployment rates ever since. But those in the know, both from Britain and abroad, flock to this unlikely setting to buy their bras.

Growing up in Derwentside, I've always been familiar with Sadie's shop but it wasn't until recently I realised quite what a phenomenon she has become. The seal was set on her success last year when she won the title Lingerie Retailer of the Year in the Draper's Record Awards - the fashion industry's equivalent of the Oscars. The 64-year-old former beauty queen beat off competition from high street names like La Senza and Bravissimo to clinch the award.

"When I saw some of the competition with their gorgeous shops, I didn't think I stood a chance. When I heard I was down to the last three, I had a few tears because I was so surprised. But, even with my tatty little shop in Consett, I still won. It was one of the best moments of my life."

This year, she was invited to sit on the judging panel for the awards - something she considers a real honour.

"I felt really excited that I was representing the North-East and I had a wonderful time," she says. "I spent a day with the other judges in London deciding on the winners and then there was the ceremony itself at the Natural History Museum. It's something I could only have dreamed about when I first started out."

Sadie opened her shop in 1970, selling both men and women's clothes but a few years later, a change in fashion sparked her interest in underwear.

She explains: "It was in the 1970s when the fit and flare dresses came in. They were supposed to fit on the bust, skim the waist and flare out over the hips but when I looked at people wearing them, I could see their busts were below where the darts were. It looked terrible and I thought that if I could just lift it, the dress would fit much better. That's how I became interested in bras. It's just gone on and one from there."

Her reputation as a specialist bra fitter grew and she eventually jettisoned her other stock to concentrate on lingerie. When Metro radio DJ Alan Robson nicknamed her Sadie the Bra Lady in an interview, it stuck and a legend was born.

Just chatting for her for a few minutes, it's easy to see why Sadie has been such a success. Her enthusiasm and exuberant personality have made her the brand. She is Sadie the Bra Lady and it's her image that appears on all the advertising, whether its on the side of a bus or on the cinema screen. "I like it when people recognise me. Actually, I'd like to be more famous," she confesses.

Sadie's shop stocks around 100 bra sizes by famous names such as Gossard, Berlei and Rigby and Peller, as well as matching items. The enormous range means women of all shapes and sizes are guaranteed the perfect fit. She shows me one of her visitors' books and just flicking through a few pages, I find comments from women in Poland, Australia and Spain. "It's changed my shape and my life," one says. Another satisfied customer warns Pamela Anderson to look out.

With her blonde hair and sharp suit, it's hard to believe that Sadie will turn 65 in January, but the former beauty queen admits it quite cheerfully. "I'm getting past my sell-by date now," she laughs. But at an age when most people are thinking about retirement, Sadie is taking on more work. She recently opened new stores in Ashington and Sunderland and is in the process of setting up a business franchise. By February and March next year, there could be branches of Sadie the Bra Lady around Britain.

"I want to get everybody in the right bra size but there's no way I could open that many shops with my own funding. The sensible thing to do seemed to start a franchise," she explains.

"There have been ups and downs over the years and sometimes I didn't know whether I was going to be having bread and jam for my Sunday lunch or roast beef. This is going to be a new era but I'm not doing it for the money. I love my job and I get a lot of satisfaction of seeing how it can change people's lives."

According to Sadie, 70 per cent of British women wear the wrong size bra. She opens a couple of the magazines lying on her desk and she gets quite agitated as she looks at some of the pictures of models wearing ill-fitting bras.

"Even people who are supposed to know about these things get it wrong so how can you expect ordinary women to get it right? The measurement guide is 30 years old and it hasn't been changed. It's crazy." Sadie and her staff don't use tape measures but fit the bra to the customer's body. "It's just like fitting a shoe to a foot," she tells me. "Some makers have different sizes and it varies from style to style. That's why I wouldn't dream of selling a bra to someone unless I had fitted it to them. There are no muscles in the breasts themselves and if you don't have enough support, the skin will stretch and they will eventually sag. If I can catch a child with her first bra and make sure she stays in the right size, there's no reason why she still shouldn't have firm breasts when she's 40 or even 60."

And there's a ray of hope for those who have already begun to see their chests move south. "I know a lot of people say that once your bust has started to droop, there's nothing you can do about it, but I don't believe it. If you start wearing the right size bra, it stops pulling the skin and gives it a chance to tighten up. I'm not saying you'll see a miracle change but it will tone up. I've experienced it myself," says Sadie.

I've brought along a new halter-neck top to the interview in the hope that Sadie can find me a strapless bra that actually fits and doesn't need to be hitched up every two minutes. But her busy schedule won't allow it and she has to dash out to a photo shoot. Fortunately, her manageress, Joy Ord, is on hand to help and I show her the top and tell her my size.

I step into the changing room with its red velvet boudoir-style chair and, under Joy's expert eye, I try on half a dozen black strapless bras. Sure enough, I'm one of the 70 per cent who have been wearing the wrong size. We soon find the perfect fit and as I leave the shop a few minutes later, my new bra in my bag, I definitely feel uplifted.