In 1984 the Prospect Street store was bought by Gateway Foodmarkets, part of the nationwide Dee Corporation, and Clifford retired. It later traded as Kwik Save.
In retirement at Kirk Ella, Clifford suffered a heart attack and a stroke, and Mary nursed him. He died in the early 1990s, leaving a son, John, and a daughter, Susan.
He certainly revolutionised things in Hull … He had tremendous energy, but he was quiet and unassuming.
Ron Lang, secretary of the Hull Chamber of Trade
