Fareham shop appears on Channel 4's Mary Portas Secret Shopper

Andy Moore appeared on Channel 4’s Mary Portas Secret Shopper show tonight as she stepped into The 157 Store in West Street, Fareham.

The 51-year-old told the shopping queen he offered clothes in ‘mod’ ‘chav’ ‘dapper’ and ‘25 and cool’ styles and was caught calling a customer fat.

But after eight weeks of help Mary was delighted at a rebrand and said his changed shop was ‘terrific’.

Andy’s family – wife Helen, 52, and sons Jamie, 16, and Adam, 18 – laughed as Mary showed secret footage of Andy calling his younger son out the toilet that doubles up as a fitting room and them struggling to find the prices.

‘I probably swear too much as a matter of course,’ Andy admitted on TV.

He likened his shop’s atmosphere to a pub – and Portas agreed. ‘You are Al Murray... that is limiting you,’ she said.

But she helped him turn around the shop.

Andy – who has sacked son Adam six times – previously had a wholesale company but lost 70 per cent of his income.

Mary’s criticisms of Andy’s shop were that it was stuck in the early 2000s, he had bought too much stock and was not able to attract enough people.

She said Andy – who has been selling clothes for 30 years – was at the wrong end of town and he should try and create a ‘destination’ instead.

Andy and Helen make £15,000 between them and were worried about losing it.

Andy, who used to run Hell Raiser in the Tricorn, set up The 157 Store nine years ago.

Speaking to The News he said: ‘They contacted us as they wanted to use our store in their series. They went over the details on the telephone and we said “we’re interested but we are not in trouble”. They didn’t mind as they were quite excited that we were a family business.

‘They liked us because we are a local business, which looks after a lot of local markets. It was quite an unusual experience, but it was fun and stressful.

‘Mary can be quite fun and she can also be stressful and a bit bossy but she can be fun when the cameras are not rolling. They did a lot of work with us and made me look inwardly at our processes.

‘It was good fun and we enjoyed it, but we were a bit nervous about it. Hopefully people who didn’t know we were here will now come in.’

Andy even got advice from Portsmouth Military Wives Choir, whom he met at Ferneham Hall for help.