Mystery surrounds how Michael “Mick” Hill died after last being seen on the balcony of his hotel room in Benidorm in the early hours of Monday, November 17.

The 65-year-old, of Hawkesbury Drive in Calcot, was renowned for sitting outside Electro Electrical Goods on the Oxford Road, where he mended and sold second-hand fridges and washing machines.

His son, Jonathan, said Mick used to “go out of his way” to buy loud shirts and said: “It was just his personality. He lived a colourful life.

“As a shopkeeper he was full of life. There was no one down the Oxford Road with the same personality as him. He was unique. The bus drivers will never again see him outside the door, sitting on his seat, fixing something. They could probably tell the time by him.” The Foreign Office confirmed a British national died in Benidorm on November 17.

A spokesman said: “We are providing consular assistance to the family at this difficult time.” Tributes have been left outside the store, including cards and flowers, in memory of the trader.

Greg Costello, owner of the nearby Workhouse Coffee Shop, said everyone in Reading had bought a fridge or washing machine from Mick at some point.

The 45-year-old added: “He was an institution of the Oxford Road. I was really shocked and really surprised.” Spanish Police would not give any information about Mr Hill’s death. However, Jonathan does not believe his father committed suicide and the family are unsure about how he died.

He said: “I find it extremely unbelievable that he did it himself — he wasn’t that kind of character.

“He was really a tough guy. He was an Oxford Roader.” Brought up in Earley, Mick began selling used electrical equipment from his mum’s house before opening his first store in the Harris Arcade.

The father-of-two then opened his store in the Oxford Road in 1979 and has been trading there ever since.

He also has a daughter, Tania, 40, and four grandchildren.

Jonathan, a 41-year-old personal trainer from Camberley, said his dad was “staunchly English” but loved everything Irish — music, Guinness and the “craic”.

He added: “His life was the Oxford Road, he loved the mix of it and the excitement of it.

“People would say he was really lucky to have what he had but it was nothing to do with luck, it was hard work.”