Newquay surf shop owner retires after nearly 57 years

A well-known Newquay surf shop owner has retired after nearly 57 years in business.

Trish Scarlett has stepped away from Smile Surf Shop on Fore Street, with her final day on Tuesday.

Her sister, Susie Hayman, who has also been a long-time partner in the business, is also retiring.

PRESS PLAY BELOW to listen to our full interview with Trish Scarlett and Susie Hayman...

Trish, aged 77, said she and her sister had originally hoped to retire at 50, but continued running the shop for decades as surfing grew in popularity in the town.

She said the business was among the early surf shops in Newquay and is the longest-running with its original founders.

The shop is now being taken over by John Fordy, who runs Surfing Life on Fore Street.

Speaking to Radio Newquay, Trish said she was an early producer of surf fashion making the clothing they sold. At the time they employed machinists to create clothing which was supplied to other shops in the town, before becoming one of the first retailers locally to stock Quiksilver.

She said: “the surfers that went to Australia in the early days came back and said there's this new brand and it's called quicksilver and I've met the guy who's got a shop in Manly and he he said if if it was of interest he could get me some of these shorts and he'd bring them back to England. Because the season being the opposite of ours at the end of the season he'd go in and buy them and in their sale and bring them. So we introduced Quiksilver to Newquay.”

Reflecting on the early days of surfing in Cornwall, she said: “It was just wonderful back in the day; there were just a handful of us. There was Trevor Roberts. I surfed with them. I served with Alan McBride, Dennis cross who started off Gul wetsuits. We were the the clique back in the day.  She's also praised one Gwyneth Haslock who is still surfing.

Trish said she is now looking forward to retirement, with plans to spend more time sailing and enjoying Cornwall during the summer months.

She also told Radio Newquay she was excited about the new surf statue being installed on the Killacourt, which has been donated to the town by the Keogh Foundation, set up by Stuart and Cherry Keogh. 

PRESS PLAY BELOW to listen to our full interview with Trish Scarlett and Susie Hayman