A visit to Norton some 26 years ago to explore the possibility of running a bakery in the area marked the start for Steve and Margaret Shaw's highly successful Fine Food Theatre in Malton Market Place.

For six years the couple ran a small bakery in Norton before embarking on an ambitious scheme to create their delicatessen and caf, opposite the parish church of St Michael's.

This year Steve is marking 35 years as a craft baker, making all the bread, rolls, quiches and savouries sold in the delicatessen, and he boasts modestly that his three-cornered multi-grain loaves attract customers from all parts of Ryedale.

Steve, from Barnsley, and Margaret, who comes from Liverpool, decided to cross the Pennines and set up a bakery - a trade Steve has known since his youth.

The Fine Food Theatre, now in its seventh year, is currently taking part in Purple Love Week, a nationwide promotional campaign to encourage people to support local independent food producing companies.

"We use a lot of local suppliers as well as selling organic and Fair Trade products" said Margaret.

The delicatessen is at the heart of Fine Food Theatre with its extensive range of European products, while the caf offers customers the opportunity to "surf the net" while they are eating.

''I don't think many people realise just what a wealth of individual shops and businesses there are in Malton Market Place," said Steve.

Updated: 16:04 Wednesday, February 15, 2006