IT IS the end of an era for Darlington removal company Haward and Robertson.

After 80 years in the town, the business will cease to be a family-run operation from the end of the year.

Mr Mark Robertson, son of company founder Mr Thomas Robertson, and a former town councillor and Conservative group leader, has decided to take a well-earned rest.

After 47 years at the helm of a successful company, he is now looking forward to finishing off building the boat he has been working on for the past two years.

Birmingham and Manchester-based firm Robinsons International, which has acquired the company, has decided to retain the name of Haward and Robertson for the foreseeable future.

The Robertson family has always been connected with furniture in one way or another.

At the turn of the century, the family business in Alnwick was involved with furniture manufacturing and timber importing but during the First World War the firm, like many others, started to struggle.

Mr Thomas Robertson, captured and held as a prisoner of war in Ypres in 1916, was released from his final prison camp in Holland in 1919 and brought back to England.

Gravely ill after falling victim to the flu epidemic which swept through Europe at the end of the war, he returned to Alnwick only to find the family firm was unable to support both him and his elder brother, who was now in charge.

He came to Darlington and in 1920 teamed up with Haward and Sons - a long-established and rather up-market furniture shop in Northgate - to form Haward and Robertson removals, storage and auctioneers.

After the death of Mr Arthur Haward, the furniture shop closed in 1935. The other Haward brothers no longer wanted to continue with the firm and, by 1941, the company passed into Mr Thomas Robertson's sole ownership.

By 1953 his health had deteriorated and, shortly after completing National Service, Mr Mark Robertson joined his father in the company. One year later his father died.

Over the next 20 years the company expanded from four vans to 12 and in 1972 acquired the business and premises of T W Cracknell, but the two firms continued to trade separately.

"We have continued to be a successful business in the town and have had to move with the times," Mr Robertson said. "But over the years legislation has become more complex and today's modern business practice is hard to keep up with."

He admits, however, that it will be hard for him to leave the office for the last time.

"I will continue to run the business until Robinsons find a replacement, but I expect to retire by the end of the year," he said. "I know I will feel a mixture of regret and relief when I go, but I can't wait to finish building my boat and spend more time at our two homes in France."

His wife, Celia, retired last year after teaching at Polam Hall school, where she had also spent her schooldays, since 1986. She is now back at Polam Hall preparing for their long holidays in France by studying A level French.

The couple have three children, who did not follow him into the family business, and two grandchildren.

Until she retired five years ago, Mr Robertson's sister, Gillian, ran the Northallerton office. He was also a partner in his brother Thomas's business, T and M Robertson, manufacturers of industrial electronic controls, until five years ago, when the business was sold.