A GOURMET shop owner is to retire from one of North Yorkshire's premier stores.

After 23 years in charge, Tony Howard will hand over Lewis & Cooper, in North-allerton, to his 33-year-old twin daughters, Victoria and Bettina, when he leaves on May 31.

Mr Howard, 64, came to Lewis and Cooper in 1983. He said: "When I came, there was just a single shop and now we have a shop in Yarm, as well as two houses where we pack hampers and send them worldwide. We have another warehouse where we pack fruit and nuts and 500 of our own label lines."

Mr Howard praised his staff, who helped raise more than £50,000 in the past 12 years for local good causes. This year, they will raise funds for the Scott suite at the Friarage Hospital, Northallerton, which will help people with breast cancer.

He said: "We have a great staff who have been an absolute pleasure and a joy to work with."

He also complimented the shop's customers who travel for miles to buy its gourmet produce.

Mr Howard said: "We have great customers that come from far and wide. Only 20 per cent of them are local, 40 per cent come from between 40 and 50 miles away and the other 40 per cent come from everywhere else."

Mr Howard's wife, Mary, will join him in retirement. She has run the store's china department for 15 years.

He intends to travel and devote more time to his grandchildren and will also carry out some work on the five-acre family farmstead in Brompton.