Family mourns grocery couple
Heartbreak at loss of much-loved pair in space of just weeks:
It is the end of an era for one of the best known and loved independent businesses in Bath after the sad passing of Tony Eades and, just weeks later, his wife Lyn.
Tony and Lyn were head of the family who for six generations have run Eades greengrocers and market gardeners behind the Royal Crescent on Crescent Lane.
Suppliers to the best restaurants in Bath for decades and to local people in the area and beyond, tributes have been pouring in as customers were this week heartbroken to hear of the death of Lyn, 71, so soon after her husband Tony, 77, who passed away after a long illness.
For their only son Mike it is an especially difficult blow to lose both parents within such a short space of time. But in keeping with the long held family tradition he is, as he says himself, keeping calm and carrying on.
Tony died after a long illness on August 27. Lyn died after being taken into hospital soon after Tony’s death. She had long suffered from a respiratory illness and her condition deteriorated quickly.
A notice has been placed outside the shop with a photograph of a young Tony and Lyn with their newborn son Mike, and with the heartbreaking words on a notice of their deaths.
It says: “We are mortified to have to tell you so soon after Dad passing a few weeks ago, that Mum passed away peacefully on Saturday evening, in the company of and holding the hand of our wonderful eldest son; he was keeping vigil while we finished the day’s customer commitments.”
The shop has stayed open throughout, as it did all through lockdown, providing the people of Bath with fresh, homegrown fruit and vegetables from the family farm in Swainswick.
Mike and his wife Sally, who have four children, will be carrying on the business as before but are heartbroken at the loss of Tony and Lyn so close together – their eldest son Will, 13, was holding his grandmother’s hand when she passed away at the RUH last Saturday (September 19) and for this they are immensely proud.
Mike said: “We are an extremely close family, we always have been, we live and work together and our parents have instilled a hard working ethic in all of us.
“We are heartbroken at losing our dear mum and dad so close together, but we will keep going, keep the farm and shop going, as that is what they both would have wanted,” he said.
Tony Eades was a larger than life character in Bath, one of the city’s true personalities. Born and bred in the city, he was a real Bathonian and when you went into the shop you were treated to his West Country sense of humour as he weighed and bagged your fruit and veg.
He met Lyn, also a true Bathonian, when she was just 14, they were childhood sweethearts.
The stories about Tony’s eccentric and sometimes wild behaviour are numerous in Bath - according to Mike he met schoolgirl Lyn after he squirted her with water from the wipers of his old Austin 16 as she was walking through Bath with her schoolfriends.
He said: “There are so many stories, everyone knew my mum and dad, the stories are legendary and mum always took the order for customers so she got to know everyone, she would be on the phone for ages chatting to them, she was a real character as well, they have left a great legacy for us.”
Eades is a very personal service, you don’t order online. In the past you rang and Lyn would hand write your order, telling you the best apples, carrots or potatoes that day, making sure you got what you wanted.
As you gave your order you could hear the grandchildren, Will, 13, Lizzie, 12, Edwin, 6 and Bea, 3, in the background, playing, helping out, chatting. Because Eades always was and always will be a family business.
Mike said: “Our parents would have wanted us to grow the business and although it is early days now that is exactly what we intend to do. We have four children and we have to make sure there is a business for them to take over. That is a lot of livelihoods, we have some extra land and we will make sure there is plenty for all, that is what mum and dad would have wanted.”
The family is organising an outdoor funeral for Tony and Lyn at their 60-acre farm at the foot of Solsbury Hill in Swainswick.
Mike said: “It will be very Covid safe for people as it is such a large outdoor space, and even people who are shielding can come and stay in their cars.
“We were planning Dad’s funeral but now we are going to have a double funeral for mum and dad, they will be together again, and they are going to be buried at the top gate of the farm, that is what they wanted, keeping an eye on us all as they always did,” he said.
Eades remains open for business as normal, either in shop or delivered to your door.