Couple find love in betting shop
After being unlucky in love for years Tim Braddock took a gamble in his local betting shop and hit the jackpot.
It took him two years to pluck up the courage to ask out the woman he knew would be a dream date – the worker from Betfred in Ludlow.
And he was right as Tim and Julie Warrington have got engaged and plan to invite Betfred boss Fred Done to their wedding.
But the journey was not so smooth as when the 65-year-old asked Julie to go out with him she replied "I will think about it".
He thought he had been snubbed and stopped going into the Betfred shop at shop in Castle Street because he was so embarrassed.
But Julie knew Tim worked for Severn Trent Water as a technician – and he regularly shopped at the nearby Tesco store - so when she spotted a Severn Trent van in the car park she headed in.
Julie, 59, said: “I asked him why he hadn’t been in the shop for a week and if he had come in I told him I would have said yes. I just wanted to have a think about going on a date and speak to my then manager Stuart Turner who told me Tim and I have a lot in common. I think he was being a bit sensitive to be honest not accepting I would let him know.”
Tim said: “I did fancy her but we only ever seemed to talk about betting. Well that’s probably because we were in Betfreds! I didn’t really have the hump when she said she’d think about going out with me but I didn’t carry on going in the shop like I have done virtually every day.
"I asked Stuart what she’d thought about our first date and he said she had really enjoyed it and it went from there.”
On Valentine’s Day after Julie had been spoken about antique jewellery he presented her with a diamond ring.
Tim, a father of one who retired last month, added: "I have won with bets in the past but finding Julie is the big bonus. We have similar interests and I have been adopted into her family. I only kept on going to Betfred because the staff and in particular Julie are all so friendly.”
Fred said: “Never mind the Royal wedding there is clearly plenty of love in the air in Ludlow. Odds on I will be able to make the weddings for what I believe is the first love match made at Betfred.”
