Bob Stacey, of Hardenhuish Lane, Chippenham, was born in Greenwich in London in 1929, the second eldest in a family of four boys and one girl. He died on January 20, aged 85.

During the Second World War, as bombing in London got worse, the family moved to Sutton Benger and his father worked as an armourer at RAF Hullavington.

Educated at Chippenham and later Trowbridge Technical College, at the age of 16 he joined Westinghouse in Chippenham on a five-year apprenticeship as a toolmaker.

During that time he was much involved with motorcycling and rode in trials all over Wiltshire.

Having completed his apprenticeship he then joined the army.

Eventually he returned to Westinghouse and soon after met his wife Muriel, and was married in 1955. Their daughter Debbie was born in 1959.

His time at Westinghouse was short-lived; he wanted something more, to be his own boss, so in 1957 he decided to leave and start his own business with his brother Brian, a coffee shop in Malmesbury High Street.

This was a great success, which was attributed to a combination of the name, Tarantula, and the espresso coffee, which made it the place to go at the time.

This was the start of buying, developing and opening coffee shops, restaurants and hotels in the Chippenham area.

He served on the Chippenham Chamber of Commerce and was chairman for a year, despite his busy business career and active membership of the Rotary Club.

He was for a period a keen horserider, then later in life he took to the water, first under sail and then motor cruising, spending many a long weekend cruising to France, Holland and elsewhere.