From cheesecloth to skin-tight denim to gothic garb, Rod and Maureen's may have seen fashions come and go but the quirky shop, hidden way in Westgate Arcade, has remained a comforting mainstay for 32 years.

Shopkeeper Maureen Manuell (67) described the shop as a eclectic mixture of ethnic and gothic and said her four decades in retail had been an amazing journey.

Maureen is finally hanging up her last outfit and retiring as her lease is up for renewal, having moved to Peterborough from London in 1974 with then husband Rod.

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After starting with a market stall, and despite being turned down by the bank manager, the couple scraped together the money to open their shop in the arcade in 1976 where it has remained.

Beginning with cheesecloth before moving to denim, Maureen has seen a legion of fashion victims laid on the floor in her shop flattening their stomachs as she helped them squeeze into the must have skin-tight jeans which were a staple of the late '70s and early '80s.

But it was the gothic craze which really saw the shop take off with youngsters flocking to the upstairs haven where Maureen had recreated Transylvania using cobwebs and bats, while downstairs the shop displayed clothing from Indonesia, Guatemala and Nepal.

Maureen said: "I think customers appreciate the personal touch, you have more time to give them and can offer advice. We have tots coming in with their grandmothers who dare not tell them they used to come in here when they were younger."

Customers have returned from New Zealand for a browse, and pagans journey each year from Cornwall to ensure they have the latest High Priestess outfit.

Grandmother Maureen said: "I even did a gothic wedding with the groom dressed as Count Dracula. The strangest request I had from my years was a man who wanted to be dressed as a prostitute for a party.

"The only thing I had was a see through dress, he went to try it on and when he opened the curtain to show me without his underwear, it certainly looked as if he would be the centre of attention."

The shop and Maureen has won many awards, including second places in The ET's Business Person of the Year and Retail Award in 2005, and has provided schools across the city with prom outfits and items for fashion shows.

This is the latest in a string of closures of independent retailers to hit Westgate Arcade.

But a centre spokesman promised the arcade would continue to develop and pointed to several new additions in recent months.

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