Last updated 19:45, Thursday, 10 July 2008

FLIMBY’S popular Paper Shop is up for sale.

The corner shop is on the market with Manchester agents Christie & Co for £289,000 - news which will disappoint the hundreds of customers who flock there each week for the home-made pies and sausage rolls baked by proprietor Gary Charlton.

Gary, 39, and his wife Yvonne are returning to their native North East to be near to Mrs Charlton’s elderly parents, one of whom is in a nursing home.

The couple took over the Flimby business nearly four years ago after coming across it on the internet.

Gary said: “The house was big enough for the family and there was the chance to build up the business.

“I love the cooking side and I make more than 1,000 pies every week, plus cakes, quiches, sausage rolls and other things. “We get a lot of passing trade and people come from as far away as Cleator Moor and Egremont just to buy them.”

A painter and decorator by trade, Gary has always been interested in cooking and said he would like to open a bistro when he returns to his native Whitley Bay.

He and Yvonne have three children - William, 23, Eve, 16 and 14-year-old Conor, who is a pupil at Workington’s St Joseph’s School.

The shop is open from 5am to 7pm and Gary is fitting in opening hours with training for the Great Cumbrian Run in October when he hopes to help raise money for disadvantaged children.