If you are doing good karma, good karma comes to you, to your community, your family and friends and obviously to your town.
My name is Prabhu Sharma I’m a shop keeper in Grey Street; I run a shop selling sports equipment, wines and general groceries. I was doing my shop partnership in Gateshead and wanted to do my own business, so I came to North Shields May 1981 and I’ve been running the shop since.
Prabhu Sharma – © Hazel Plater
There used to be 10, 12 shops around here now I am the only one. So that is the biggest change because people’s habits have changed, they are going to supermarkets and corner shops are not there anymore. When you get everything online, who would like to come out in the winter or a rainy day, it’s easier for them to do it. But I am still glad, a lot of people still come to my shop.
I didn’t even know that North Shields had such a great history. I spoke to many customers then I found out that there was so much history around here. Mostly I enjoy going to quayside and just standing there and watch people go by. It’s a beautiful sight to see and the pub on the corner, stand there and just see how beautiful scenery is there. And I love to walk around Knotts flats and going up there and coming to the Priory castle and I love walking on the coast especially in the evening.
I used to live above the shop. I sold the flat ages ago and I live in Grey Street. I’ve been living there since 1989, so I’m quite happy here. My family was with me all the time. Two children was born here, my daughter was born in Gateshead and they don’t know anything but North Shields.
I would like to see some more shops or food places down the quayside, there’s some really terrible sites at the bottom, so they can clean that out and do something nicer so that we can get people from all over the country. We can take advantage of the place as a tourist site and that will generate a lot of income for the people around. Convenience wise I would love having a new metro station opposite my park which is a beautiful park and if they have a Metro station there that will feed to Northumberland Park and the fish quay and of course it would be easier for me to go there.
North Shields is doing well. People had a negative attitude towards North Shields a good few years back, now when they come over, they try to say, “Oh, you are in Tynemouth,” I say, “No, that’s still in North Shields,” and North Shields people are very nice. The whole community around me are the same, people underestimate North Shields people.
I know sometimes three generations, many people two generations I know them very well. When they come, they say, “Oh are you still here?” and people are so good to me. What else do you want, money is not everything in your life, when you know everybody in your community half the battle is won. How lucky can you be when people are so kind to you. So, touch wood, I haven’t had a bad time that way.
I believe in karma, so sometimes you don’t know what’s happening if you are doing good karma, good karma comes to you to your community, your family and friends and obviously to your town. I think if I say, there’s some good things happening to North Shields because it’s got such a good history, people will recognize this place as one of the good-est places and I like to see that happening. It’s like tidying up your house and when somebody comes to your house just putting your furniture from one end to another and its look different altogether, North Shields is like that. People are in the house very nice, similarly people in the town are very nice so you don’t have to do much about it. Try to give them more facilities people will come here.
I’m a pensioner, I can retire any time, but the thing is what would I do sitting at home doing nothing? I just open the shop the way I like it, the time I like it and people understand that and I’m very thankful to them. But running a sports shop I’d rather see people come in and try to get benefit of my sports equipment and I try to give them much cheaper, or I can give them for nothing if they can’t afford it and if they can do something good about it you know.
I always wanted to do something different. In the 1980s when videos came in, I was doing very well then Sky came and all that died down then my shop went a bit down and I thought, “Oh what’s the point of just running a normal shop?” and I was going to India quite a lot to see my parents. I got an idea that the city I come from in India there are more than 5,000 manufacturers of sports equipment. They supply 60 per cent of sports equipment to the domestic market of India so I says, “Why can’t I import them and sell them?”
A lot of schools need different things, so I started to supply schools and that’s where it started from. Then I realise, oh, it’s a very unique shop, selling vodka and hockey’s, whisky and rounders and cricket stuff and wines and badminton and all these things with chilled beer. But I tell them, play and drink, don’t do otherwise and it’s always nice to have a relaxing time after you play and people have a good laugh and that’s just the way I am you know and people are kind to me.
Through you I’m sending my message to my customers. I’m saying thank you to them and it’s the appreciation I get through them you know so I’m quite lucky that way. I was brought up by my parents accordingly and I’m passing that nature, karma and my attitude. I’m doing the same with my customers and luckily and fortunately they are the same. They have the same values and the same attitude, so I am quite happy.
Prabhu was interviewed as part of the North Shields 800 Voices Project.