Video: On the town with the Nottingham Cockleman
Nottingham’s famous Cockleman Dave Bartram has thanked well-wishers after he was attacked and mugged in the street.
The 70-year-old was set upon in Lower Parliament Street in the city, and went to hospital with minor injuries.
But the assault led on to a cancer diagnosis when medics at hospital encouraged him to go for more checks.
He is now undergoing radiotherapy and says he has been inundated with people approaching him to wish him well on his regular city centre rounds.
The Ruddington resident has become an icon of Nottingham after 50 years of walking from pub to pub to sell shellfish from a basket, dressed in his familiar white coat and trilby hat.
He is still working despite the attack and diagnosis, and agreed to let Notts TV film him on his rounds.
He says the business keeps him going after the death of his wife more than two decades ago.
He said: “It means a lot because when you lose your wife, you lose your home, you lose everything, the only thing you have got left, and you’ve still got to build your home, you’ve still got to carry on with life.
“The only thing that I can do is carry on a business.”
He added a number of people have approached him to ask how he is doing since hearing about the attack, which left him with bruised ribs.
Peter Hotchkiss, landlord of the Navigation Inn on Wilford Street, said: “He’s a great guy and a great asset to the Nottingham community.
“Now they have found it (cancer) in time so they can treat it, else Dave would have just been plodding on.”
Dave added: “I just want to say thank you for the service, thank you for keeping me going, and than you for the support.”
