"When we were coming here in 1992 somebody from Clarks footwear said to me, 'What are you coming to Rotherham for? Everyone here wants cheap tack.' I said I think that's all they've got, but they don't necessarily want it. We've done well on quality. There are discerning customers, who are not going to pay for rubbish. If you give them good stuff, quality goods, they're faithful to you."

Despite the fact that so many businesses have gone from this corner of Rotherham, Chris remains defiantly optimistic. "When this work is done I'm sure it will be good. It has affected us, but let's hope trade comes back."

There is also some Heritage finance on offer for High Street shops. "At the moment with this Heritage money available we shall be applying for a grant and that'll be to renovate the building; put back the turret on the corner, redo the clock; pretty much everything that we need to put it back to as it was. The building is not listed but it is in a conservation area; it is Georgian with a sort of Victorian facade tacked on. We're going to put a Georgian-style shop front facing into the Minster Close on the back of the building and hopefully that should tie in."

Talking of Heritage, after acquiring the property Chris has continued to find treasures all over the shop. "I keep digging things out, I find all sorts of stuff. (In his office) when I took the boarding off this fireplace, it was already made up to light a fire for the next day with 1940s newspapers." Previous to being 'Hambys' Rotherham people will remember this particular shop as belonging to Masons the jewellers. Chris continued, "Before the turn of the (19th) century jewellers did optical work, before opticians. But the owners must have decided one day not to do this anymore so there are drawers and drawers full of spectacles and things all with prices on, over 100 years old. At the bottom of the shop the cellars are medieval, so there's always going to be something of interest here."

Apart from work, Chris Hamby's other major interest is the Foundation he brought into being which sends much-needed aid to Romania. Strangely, it all started because he was reluctant to get involved in the first place.

"The church that I attended then started doing lorry runs to Romania and asked me as a business person to be on the board. I agreed. But then they kept asking me to come out to Romania, and I said, I didn't have the time. A little later we had a student living with us and he wanted to go and so I said, OK, and I went for a week."

Chris visited an orphanage and the experience turned his whole world around. He saw children in the direst of straits. "It broke my heart. I thought this shouldn't be happening; it was 1999. I came back and I said to the board that I wanted to go out again. They said they needed to take different people out, and I think really as a joke, they threw it back to me and said you'll have to go on your own. Well, being a big lad, I said, OK, I will."

That was how the Hamby Foundation was formed. Since then it has raised over £100,000 through donations, market stalls and three different charity shops. It has built a church, a feeding centre, paid towards a street children's centre, and an old people's clothing centre in Constanta. It has funded operations, saved people's homes, and even their lives.

Chris tells one story with typical amazement. "Once we did a run with a lorry and took 40 tons of aid out. We watched it leave Rotherham and then I flew out to meet it in Romania. Once there we then had to move it in small vans to places in the countryside because you are right in the middle of the Romanian Steppe. I always say to the drivers that we'll pay for petrol because it's expensive for them. This guy came with his van and he wouldn't take any money. He moved this stuff all day long. Eventually I asked someone why he wouldn't take any money. They said, 'You don't know who he is,' and I didn't. They told me that about three or four years ago, their daughter had got cancer in her leg and that I had paid for an operation and it had saved her leg. She was now a dancer and this guy was her dad. He remembered me but I never knew what had happened."

But the end of 2006 saw Chris needing help, rather than him helping others. "That's when I got cancer. They gave me six months to live. I had my right kidney removed. The doctors thought it had spread but it hadn't. They had caught it. It was a bad time, but Hallamshire Hospital were fantastic. I'm officially a cancer survivor," and he added with a laugh, "I do love labels. Chris Hamby, that well-known cancer survivor, philanthropist and local character." That whole experience, though, made him want to make radical changes in his personal life. "At the time I thought, this is it and when I got, not quite the all-clear because they keep wanting me to go back, but that really made me want to change direction in my personal life."

During his frequent visits to Constanta Chris had met Gabi, a Romanian girl. "We had become friendly, no more than that. She was part of the team in Romania." Eventually he realised that this was more than a passing attraction. He asked her and they got married earlier this year. "She's a good, Christian girl, she's just great, and we're going to be very happy."

While convalescing from his operation, though, Chris could not spend any time at his shops. However, he is not a man to be idle. "I had nothing to do but sit at home. I'm really into antiques. I've always been interested in stamps. I collect old Dinky and Corgi models. In fact I turned that into a business while I was off, buying and selling on the Internet and I built that up. I started making hand-made cards too. I love working. And I do a lot of artwork." He has even turned that into a business, his designer cards he now sells in the Rotherham shop.

What appears to keep Chris so bouyant amid good times and bad is his faith, and he is quite candid about it. “My dad and grandad and great-grandad did good works, but they liked standing in the pulpit to preach. I find that hard. I always describe my Christianity as being a bit washed out because I see myself as very flawed. Someone, St Augustine or somebody said, 'Preach the Gospel and if necessary use words.' That's been my thing. If somebody's in need, let's do what we can. It's love. I can't be negative.

"My passion is people, I like people a lot, and I love work, I love work full stop. It's nice when you think we've had a good day (at the shop), but what's that? I could take you to individuals who have definitely had their lives saved by the Foundation. I could show you children who are alive who wouldn't have been, and that's the most rewarding thing of all that I do. That's the big kick I get, making a difference with people."

With a self-deprecatory laugh Chris rounded off our meeting. "I must come over as quite a boring person."