A BUTCHER'S shop is putting the emphasis on local, by selling meat from local farms.

The Dales Meat and Pie Company has recently opened in Leyburn Market Place.

Local businessman Peter Bowers has teamed up with butcher Peter Wilkinson, who previously worked in one of the town's supermarkets, to run the shop.

Mr Bowers, managing director of IPS (UK), which owns the shop, said he intended not only to sell the best quality local meat, but also pies and savouries, breads and cakes, sandwiches and cheeses.

Most of the goods will be made on the premises each day.

The bakery manager, Caroline Collins, said: "Our aims are to deliver the quality of service, which is fast disappearing from local life by the supermarket stranglehold, and replacing that with the personal service customers are demanding again."

Richmond MP William Hague visited on Saturday to officially declare the shop open for business.