IT HAS called Cowley Road home for the past 90 years, but on Monday family-run Oxford timber merchant W G Powell will close its doors for the last time.

The company, which until this month employed up to 30 staff, said it had been forced out of the market by national DIY chains.

The three-acre site near Marsh Road will now be turned into a £5m, 60-bed care home by developer Montpelier Estates.

Director Helen Pearson, who took over the company from her late father Walter Powell, who founded the business, said it was “horrible” to have to close.

She said: “The last thing I wanted to happen was for this to finish. It’s very sad, but we have to be realistic.”

Mrs Pearson, who joined the firm in 1964, said alongside competition from national chains, she had been unable to find anyone to hand the reins to when she retired.

She said: “We are a specialist company and nobody is really interested in that.

“I can’t bring anyone in – they really need to have worked here to know how we operate.

“We are not going to live forever and you have to plan forward.”

Walter Powell came to Oxford from Birmingham when he was eight years old.

He followed in his father John’s footsteps and joined the timber trade, building sheds, greenhouses and dog kennels in the back garden of his family home at No. 474.

In 1923, at the age of 25, he founded his own business, but said he never dreamed it would grow in the way it did.

He was joined in the firm not only by Mrs Pearson but also his daughters Christine Powell, Eileen Smith and Ruth Clarkson, who became board members.

He died in 1982 at the age of 84.

Mrs Pearson said she will close the business with fond memories of her time working alongside her father and the 30-strong team.

She added: “I’m proud of the staff because they have been so loyal.

“Something must have worked because so many of them stayed for so long.

“I’m really grateful.

“My father and I were always quite close. We never fell out.”

She added: “We survived the recession.

“I have never, ever lived through such a terrible time.”

Montpelier Estates was granted planning permission by Oxford City Council this year to develop the site into a three-storey care home with 20 parking spaces, creating 70 jobs.