Close friends have paid tribute to 'larger-than-life' Exeter fishmonger Richard Beynon, whose celebration of life service was held today.
The hugely popular figure passed away on Friday, March 8 at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital after a battle against cancer.
A well-known figure on Magdalen Road, Richard ran the award-winning Gibson’s Plaice in St Leonard’s and also assisted in making TV programmes with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
His friends and family paid tribute to the legendary figure at the East Devon Crematorium this afternoon.
"He was larger than life," said friend Dan Taylor, who runs The Grocer on The Green next door. "One of the other guys inside said he was cantankerous, awkward and I would also say a little bit grumpy, but you would never see that because he always had time for everyone.
"He was there for everyone all the time and he was the first person you could go to with anything really. He was very generous with his time.
"He would make sure that everyone felt welcome either in his shop or on the street. He would be the first person to say hello to everyone and be really warm and welcoming."
Gibson’s Plaice was founded in 1992, and has received many accolades including Devon's Best Fishmonger of the Year in 2007 and 2009, and runners up for the same award every year since 2008, we is also listed in the Guardian's Ultimate Guide to Britain's Finest Independent Shops and Suppliers.
In 2013, Richard told monthly magazine Devon Life how his love of fish and seafood began as a boy watching his dad, a fisherman, go out to sea off the coast at Exmouth.
Long before the shop would open for business each day, Richard would head off at 4am every morning to the fish markets at Brixham, and often on to Exmouth, buying from local small-scale fishing boats.
The seasonal catches would then appear in the shops window display.
"Magdalen Road won’t be the same without him," continued Dan. "There is going to be this big void now and the only thing that will keep us going will be all our wonderful memories of him. It is going to feel very weird for quite some time without him now.
"It (the service) was lovely. They got some really great moments in and how his best men got through it – they must have had to really dig in deep," Dan went on.
"I couldn’t have done that myself so I take my hat off to anyone who can be that honest about things and really hold it back and get through it for him.
"It was wonderful to hear all of those stories about him. I laughed at some inappropriate moments that I wasn’t expecting, but that was just the type of guy he was."
The service was suitably colourful, with his coffin being carried in to the likes of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and The Hollies.
After a number of touching tributes and amusing anecdotes from some of his closet friends, it ended with the Welsh national anthem being played.
"That was a really lovely way to finish," said Sarah Williams, who worked with Richard on his website.
"He was very well known. It was packed today – so packed you couldn't get in and couldn’t park.
"The service was really special and there were some really special stories from his three best mates. Nobody had a bad word to say against him – it was really tragic really.
"I didn’t see him regularly – just on a business basis, but we always talked about work and he would give me some fish now and again. It's just really sad."
