TRIBUTES have been paid to the owner of Nelson's first supermarket who has died, aged 84.

The funeral of Eric Turner, known as Barmy Mick, will be held at Carlton Crematorium in Fleetwood at 2.30pm on Thursday.

Mr Turner, an ex-prisoner of war, set up his first supermarket in 1959 from two market stalls in Jude Street, Nelson.

When he retired from the supermarket business in 1994, he took over the Holly Tree Hotel in Forton, and later retired to Fleetwood.

He died in hospital after having cancer.

Former employee Dorothy Skillan said: "Everybody knew Barmy Mick, both in Nelson and in Barnoldswick, where he transformed the old Grand Cinema into a second supermarket."