Kidderminster couple first met over a cup of tea (From Kidderminster Shuttle)

Kidderminster couple first met over a cup of tea

7:30am Thursday 21st March 2013 in News By William Tomaney

A KIDDERMINSTER couple who met over a pot of tea at a London cafe have celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary.

Joan, 85, and Den Brown, 87, who now live in Wood Street, Kidderminster, met in the capital in 1952 and got married in Southall on March 7, 1953.

They moved to the Wyre Forest town in 1963 when they opened The Corner Shop, at the corner of Castle Street and Wood Street.

The popular store, which contained an off-licence, closed in 1993 when the pair retired.

Mr and Mrs Brown celebrated their anniversary with a quiet family gathering, calls from friends and neighbours and a message of congratulations from the Queen.

The couple have two children – Lorraine and Stephen – three grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Mr Brown, who was born in Cardiff and served in the Welsh Guards, had popped into Lyon’s Corner House in London’s Oxford Street, where Mrs Brown, from Southall, who was about to enjoy lunch, had sat down with her mother and a pot of tea.

According to Lorraine, her parents’ eyes “met across a crowded room”.

She added: “Their lives were bound up in the shop in KIdderminster.

They spent many years running it and got to know an awful lot of people in the town.”