With its mahogany counters and meticulously stocked drawers, it caters for traditionally-built ladies, mostly over the age of 70, a last outpost of the quilted housecoat, the bed-jacket and the liberty-bodice.

Alongside the underwear and the sensible, pleated skirts are household items including net curtains and a vast selection of tea towels. When she isn't behind the counter Ann still enjoys playing tennis, giving talks about the shop and her job and appearing on stage.


What's your first memory of being outdoors?
I think it was grubbing in the garden and finding all these windfall apples, eating them and being very ill. I'd be about two-and-a-half.


What's your favourite part of the county and why?
The area around Kettlewell in the Dales. I worked just outside Grassington for a year as matron and housekeeper in a boys' school in the late '50s.

I have fond memories of the countryside round there, of walking in Gass Wood and at Buckden. It was a gorgeous summer, we dammed the Wharfe and made a swimming pool and I taught them all to swim.


What's your idea of a perfect weekend/day out in Yorkshire?
A day out with the gardening club to go to somewhere like Newby Hall or Harewood, to be with kindred spirits that like gardening.

I love gardening – I love my roof garden here above the shop – I would like to have done gardening as a career but it was poo-pooed by the family.

As a youngster I did a lot of gardening at home as my granddad was blind and I did his gardening for him. I can see us wandering down King Street when it was a fruit and flower market.


Do you have a favourite walk, or view?
Walking on the beach very early in the morning with a beloved dog, from Sewerby up to Danes Dyke and back along the cliffs.

I can't walk far now but I used to love those walks with Lassie at the weekend. Up by Sewerby the water was crystal clear and you could look out over the bay with all the yachts.


Which Yorkshire stage or screen star (past or present) would you like to take for lunch?
Alan Titchmarsh – anybody who can be Nanky Poo can't be all bad. As a youngster in Ilkey he was in a lot of Gilbert and Sullivan, which is one of my great loves. I've never met him but I'm sure we'd get on fine. We would have plenty to talk about. There's nothing like amateur operatics – I'm president of Bridlington Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society.


If you had to name your Yorkshire hidden gem, what would it be?
Well I suppose I'd have to say Whiteleys. I've been wedded to Whiteleys and I've met some amazing people over the past 40 years.


What do you think gives Yorkshire its unique identity?
It's our sense of humour. We are quite different to some of the people we get in the shop from down South. We are very down-to-earth and tell life like it is.


What about Yorkshire's cultural life?
In our area it centres round Alan Ayckbourn and the Stephen Joseph Theatre. We go to practically everything that he does. A lot of us have been going since they were at Scarborough library, now we go to the new theatre. We also go to the New Theatre in Hull.

We also set up our own theatre in Brid, the Spotlight, which has been going for about eight years. My favourite parts have all been Gilbert and Sullivan. My favourite part in a play was Clara Soppitt in When We Are Married, I've seldom enjoyed a part more. We have plenty of cultural life, it's all good fun.


How do you think Yorkshire has changed in the time you've known it?
There's so much more litter and rubbish. Things have got more grubby and the town has been made more ugly. Thirty years ago the town was full of family businesses – shops like Carltons, Allens and Greys, now there's only Whiteleys left. We were all making a reasonable living, it was a very nice little shopping area. There was Collinsons the grocers and people still talk fondly of Elsie Battle who did wedding dresses.

It was like a little village and there were very pukka boarding houses around here. West Riding people came with a full staff including a cook and two maids. It was a more elegant place then.


Who is the Yorkshire man or woman you most admire?
At the moment it's Gervaise Phinn because he's pulled himself up from a comparatively ordinary job. He has a neat turn of phrase, I like his sense of humour and his school stories ring a bell.


Name your favourite Yorkshire book/author/artist/CD/performer
My favourite book is Adam Brunskill by Thomas Armstrong (he wrote The Crowthers of Bankdam), I read it every three or four years. My favourite authors would be Thomas Armstrong and Gervaise Phinn. My favourite record would be The Merry Widow Waltz.