Ye Olde Pie & Sausage Shoppe in Shambles, York, is a truly a family affair. Working alongside the founders, husband and wife Rob and Julie Wilson, are a daughter, a brother, a brother-in-law and a niece.

After just four years the traditional and gourmet sausages and pies emporium now has customers from all over the world bearing witness to its high quality, Yorkshire-sourced, free-range ingredients.

Now Ye Olde Pie & Sausage Shoppe is seeking further recognition by entering the Family Business of the Year and Small Business of the Year sections of The Press Business Awards 2013.

Rob and Julie originally opened York Sausage Shop in December 2009, when injury meant Rob could no longer continue as a slaughterman.

Julie says: “Fate definitely played its part when a lease became available for a shop in Shambles, the street of butchers. We submitted our business plan to the landlords and the rest, as they say, is history. However, it soon became clear that more than just sausages needed to be sold to cover the running costs.

“This is where family support proved its worth, as Rob's brother David, already a successful butcher in Huntington, suggested adding pork pies and pasties, dry cured hams and bacon. Ye Olde Pie & Sausage Shoppe was born."

Daughter Kayleigh left her job at Royal Mail to head up the shop as soon as it opened and Julie's brother-in-law, Andrew, joined, initially to make pies, but now he also deals with orders and acts as handyman. Andrew’s daughter Drew, despite a full-time hairdressing job, still helps out at weekends. Rob meanwhile is in charge of meat cutting, curing hams and bacon and making sausages.

Julie, York born and bred, a Freeman of the City and a York business woman in her own right, handles the shop's finances and paperwork.