Eric Celton's delicious deli in Leominster

Having established and developed the thriving deli and cafe, Eric decided to open a small restaurant in an upstairs room at the Victoria Street shop.

“This room (a former storage room) had been a coffee shop many years ago,” he says, explaining that his aim is to provide customers with a small, home-cooked, lunch menu that offers a real alternative to a quick sandwich in the pub, and a relaxed atmosphere in which to meet friends and catch up over a great homecooked meal.

The menu offers starters, mains and desserts, but Eric emphasises that his aim isn’t to persuade people into a three-course lunch and the menu simply tells diners what’s available.

A classically trained French chef, Eric places the emphasis on good, local, ingredients, cooked to perfection and the opening menu featured starters of goat’s cheese salad with a classic French dressing and smoked salmon served with a shallot creme fraiche, while mains included mushroom risotto with a parmesan crisp and desserts came in the shape of creme brulée and pear or apricot frangipane tart.

He puts his love of cooking down to the training he received at college.

“I was lucky enough to work with people who made me passionate about my job,” he said.

For five years, Eric was head chef at The Peacock Inn, and then, just as he thought it was time to do something else, fate took a hand when he spotted an empty shop in Broad Street.

“It seemed to be the perfect location for a deli,” he says.

“I’d worked 30 years doing nights and I thought that a day job would be lovely.”

The Broad Street deli was soon attracting increasing numbers of customers, but two years after opening the shop the owner of Barber & Manuel on Victoria Street wanted to sell, and Eric saw an opportunity to expand.

“It’s lovely to have a shop,”

he says. “I’ve met so many nice people since I’ve had the shop.”