A HEREFORDSHIRE shop owner that swapped real life heroes for fictional heroes has spoken about his three years in business.

Andy Cumber, from Hereford, opened Q Comics in the Buttermarket in High Town in 2019 after spending the majority of his life travelling the globe in the military.

Having been born and raised in East London, he left home at 17 in 1993 to join the army.

Having toured Kosovo during the troubles throughout the 1990's, amongst others, Mr Cumber left the armed forces in 2004.

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Mr Cumber said: "When I left the army in 2004, I didn't really want to move back to London and couldn't really afford to.

"I came to Hereford to visit friends of mine having never been here before and really enjoyed being here so decided to move and haven't looked back since, even if my job meant I was away for the majority of the time."

Upon leaving the armed forces. Mr Cumber worked in security in hostile environments.

This work took him all over the world for a 15 year period to war torn countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebannon and Syria.

After what ended up as 25 years away from home, Mr Cumber decided he wanted a change and to put down some roots.

He said: "It got to the point where I wasn't as quick as I once was and I needed to do something different."

He decided on opening his own comic book store to satisfy an urge he'd had since childhood.

He said: "I decided I wanted to do something that I was passionate about.

"If you're going to be working on something for a significant period of your life, it might aswell be something you love.

"When I was a kid, it was comic books that got me reading, as it was with a lot of youngsters.

"The Marvel movies in particular have brought this generation of kids back to comics and they are finding out about them through the films."

Mr Cumber is fascinated with the artwork, by comic characters, and their history.

He said: "These characters continue to be popular for decades. Batman, for example is now over 80 years old. There cant be many things in the modern world that have retained their popularity for that long."

Mr Cumber said that all of his customers have been incredibly supportive since he opened the store in 2019.

"I've met some really great people since I've been here and it's been fantastic to meet them and to share my passion with them."