A procession will be held in a high street following the death of a beloved business owner in the town.
Neil Harlow, owner of the U-Weigh store in Hythe, died on September 17 following a five-month battle with cancer.
The 61-year-old was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma – a cancer in the oesophagus – in April and given a prognosis of 12 to 18 months.
But after the disease metastasised in many areas of his body, including his lymph nodes and liver, this changed to just three weeks – and he died last month.
The father-of-three took over the High Street store when he was just 25 – and the business was described by his family as “his everything”.
Though he faced many challenges over the years, Mr Harlow managed to “move with the times” and made the refill store a mainstay in the town over the past 36 years.
Now, his funeral is set to take place on Monday, October 14, and the family say the high street procession will give the community a chance to pay their respects.
His eldest daughter, Jami, told KentOnline that the support from their customers has been “incredible and overwhelming”.
The 31-year-old added: “We’ve gained permission from the council to have his hearse come down the high street prior to the funeral. He’ll be coming down at about 1pm.
“We as a family will be standing outside the shop and the hearse will take a pause outside the business before continuing on to the funeral.
“It’s going to be his final sort of trip down the high street and it’s an opportunity for people to say goodbye to him in their own way.
“He was a big part of the town and we’ve got lots of customers that want to pay their respects. All of their support has been incredible.”
Despite his illness, Mr Harlow, who lived in Dymchurch with his wife Louise, 54, continued to work at the shop every day until the middle of August.
However, due to the decline in his health, his daughters Maddy, 23, and Emily, 19, worked at the shop to keep the business going.
Following his death, Maddy has now taken over the business full-time and said she “wants to do it justice for him”.
She added that she won’t make any changes at U-Weigh as her dad ran it “perfectly”.
Mr Harlow went into the Pilgrims Hospice in Ashford on September 12.
Jami says the staff “kept him comfortable” until he died with his family by his side five days later.
“It’s been the hardest time in all of our lives,” Jami added.
“Me and my sisters always called him our best friend. We lost our dad and the person we would always talk to and run everything by.
“But we are very lucky as we have such a close-knit family. We have a lot of support from partners, uncles and aunts, and very close friends.
“It’s been the hardest thing I think any of us have had to face but it’s been made so much easier by the support that we’ve had.”
A close friend of the family, Emily West, set up a JustGiving page for Mr Harlow where donations will go towards the funeral.
It has raised more than £5,000 and has covered the cost of Mr Harlow’s send-off.
Jami says that any further donations will be donated to the Pilgrims Hospice.
She added: “Dad really wanted us to be able to give something back to Pilgrims Hospice.
“We could never have done this journey without them. They’re an amazing charity.
“We’re going to be forever indebted to them for how comfortable they made Dad and the rest of us while we were there with him.
“Nothing was ever too much for them.”
