EastEnders star looks unrecognisable from his days as a top soap heartthrob as he’s spotted at his local bakery

EASTENDERS legend Nick Berry looks almost unrecognisable with a white beard on a trip to a bakery.

The 60-year-old star was seen popping to the high street 19 years after quitting showbiz.

Nick played Simon Wicks from 1985 to 1990 and is also known to millions for his role as PC Nick Rowan in Heartbeat from 1992 to 1998.

But he looked worlds away from his days on the telly while taking a stroll in the sunshine.

Nick was snapped wearing a faded T-shirt and jeans which he teamed with comfy trainers.

The former soap legend hid his eyes beneath a pair of dark glasses.

Nick first shot to TV stardom playing smouldering Simon in EastEnders.

He then went on to star in ITV's police drama Heartbeat as the equally handsome PC Nick in 1992, staying on the show for six years.

After that, Berry moved back to the BBC where he starred in the show Harbour Lights as harbour master Mike Nicholls.

Bar an appearance in crime series In Deep, Nick bowed out of acting to become a stay-at-home dad to his sons Louis, now 27, and Finley, 24.

In 2011 he told the he had no regrets nor any desire to throw his hat back in the ring.

Nick said: "I chose to be a stay-at-home dad and have loved it.

"I always said that when the boys were teenagers I could go back, but the longer you don't do something the harder it is to do it, and I haven't really missed it.

"While I'd never say never, I'm genuinely happy as I am."

True to his word, Nick made his last TV appearance back in 2012 in a one-off EastEnders episode for the funeral of his on-screen mother Pat Butcher.

His former EastEnders co-star Sid Owen recently heaped praise on him for taking him under his wing when Sid first played Ricky Butcher.

He wrote in biography From Rags to Riches: "Nick was such a lovely, modest guy.

"As soon as he discovered I was living in a squat in Islington, quite close to the posher bit where he'd bought a flat, he offered to drive me up to work and back again.

"Nick used to be really into classic cars and I'll never forget the first time he turned up outside the squat in a gleaming Jaguar E-Type, ready to drive me to work.

"He was a big star, a proper household name, and when we arrived at the studio gates there were hordes of fans waiting.

"As soon as they spotted him the screams went up: 'Wicksy!' 'Nick!'

"'I love you, Nick!' The car was mobbed. Screaming girls waving banners, begging for autographs."

He even briefly had a music career Nick released the UK's biggest selling record of 1986, Every Loser Wins.