Aspel starred in the store's drama society in the 1950s

Aspel began as an assistant in soft furnishings at the city's David Morgan department store in the 1950s before getting his break in radio.

The Antiques Roadshow presenter returned as the store marks its 125th anniversary this month, while it is due to close for good in January.

Aspel said he had a "happy time" but was eventually sacked for spending too much time concentrating on radio.

The store is due to close in January after being sold to developers for �29m earlier this year.

I was told I had to choose between David Morgan and the BBC Michael Aspel

Former This is Your Life presenter Aspel visited David Morgan while in Cardiff filming an edition of Antiques Roadshow at City Hall.

The 71-year-old broadcaster wandered around his old department and chatted to assistants on the shop floor where he worked for a year between March 1954 and March 1955.

He said: "I worked in David Morgan until they threw me out for taking too much time off for broadcasting.

"I'd just finished National Service and I took a job with a firm in London who made beds.

"They said they wanted me to go to Cardiff to learn the retail trade at David Morgan.

Michael Aspel tours the store with chairman Richard Morgan

"It wasn't what I wanted to do, but I had a very happy time."

The young Aspel began to follow his broadcasting ambition and landed a part in a children's radio play at the BBC in Cardiff that was to lead to a premature end to his retail career.

Aspel said: "I was told I had to choose between David Morgan and the BBC.

"I took part in the fifth episode of a children's play I was in and my boss told me he didn't accept my resignation because I was fired.

"(It was) the end of a glorious career in the retail trade."

Aspel said that the David Morgan shop floor had changed since the 1950s, but he added the "atmosphere is the same, the thing is selling beds and bedding".

The David Morgan store has traded in Cardiff since 1879

David Morgan linens manager, Jonathan Pearn, helped show Aspel around his old department.

He said: "He was interested in the changes to his old stomping ground over the years.

"He said it looks different, but the atmosphere is the same - he still loves department stores."

Aspel's visit to David Morgan coincided with an exhibition the store has put on to celebrate its 125th anniversary.

The family-run store has traded in the Hayes, in Cardiff city centre, since 28 October, 1879, when founder David Morgan moved his business to the site from the Rhymney Valley.

The site will be transformed into homes and smaller shops after it closes.

Michael Aspel's former department has changed since he left the store

Until then, the exhibition on the store's third floor will remind shoppers of 125 years of trade at the 170,000 sq ft site.

Among the pictures on display is one of Michael Aspel taking part in production by the store's own drama club.

Current chairman Richard Morgan, the great grandson, of David Morgan, said of the visit of the store's most famous former shop assistant: "He (Aspel) enjoyed looking at the exhibits from 125 years of the store.

"We were delighted to welcome him back to the store after 50 years," he said.