A NORTH-EAST greengrocer is coming to terms with becoming internet famous after his picture was used in a joke that went viral at the weekend.

Darlington’s Robin Blair reeled in shock after being told he had been made into a ‘meme’ – a captioned picture shared by thousands across the world.

The Northern Echo:

An image of Mr Blair, above, who mans a stall at the town’s covered market, was used to illustrate a joke published on the World of Puns Facebook page and liked by more than 31,000 people at the time of writing.

The meme shows a stock image of a butcher above a picture of Mr Blair and the pun ‘Vegans think that butchers are gross but I reckon people who sell fruit and vegetables are grocer.’

A shocked Mr Blair said: “I don’t quite know how to take this but I don’t think it’s meant in a nasty way.

“I’m not really up on these sorts of things and it’s given me a bit of a shock but it is a funny little story.

“I suppose a grocer is quite an old fashioned term to use but I’m proud of being a grocer and I’m proud of being at the market.

“Anything that lifts the profile of the market is good with me.”

A number of Darlington people were quick to comment on the social media post, pointing out that it depicted their favourite grocer and linking to stories about his long-running business as they applauded him for becoming a meme.