SLOWLY but surely, a Ginger Pig which rescued the jobs of eight people is becoming a new trading force in a North Yorkshire market town.

It was announced today that the metamorphosis from what used to be the former Seasons delicatessen in Market Place, Pickering, will be complete by April 21, when the new Ginger Pig branding will be ready.

Jobs were at stake when the deli, once listed as one of the world's 100 "must visit" shops, went into liquidation. But most employees were able to stay on as a result of two local businessmen joining forces.

Victor Buchanan, of The White Swan Inn in Pickering's Market Place, and livestock farmer Tim Wilson, from the nearby village of Levisham, owner of the award-winning Ginger Pig butchers shops in London, bought the former Seasons store from the liquidators.

The Ginger Pig shop in Marylebone was voted the 25th most popular retail store in the world by a retailing magazine, while last December Time Out magazine rated Mr Wilson as the 54th most influential person in London - ahead even of Kevin Spacey, Madonna and Tony Blair.

Once the Ginger Pig branding of fresh foods from Mr Wilson's 1,600 acres of farmland near Pickering substitutes the old stock, along with freshly-cooked food from the kitchens of the White Swan Inn, they plan to at least double turnover of the old Seasons, which is believed to have stood at about £3,500 to £4,000 per week.

Mr Wilson said: "The trouble was that a lot of Seasons' business was based on tourism. That's great, but it won't keep the shop full all year around.

"Tourists who buy locally packaged food may be charmed, but local people want to know that they are getting the real thing. You need repeat business."

The two men, who already do business together - The White Swan Inn is the only restaurant outside London to serve Ginger Pig organic meat - invested a "significant sum".

Mr Buchanan, who also owns a pizzeria next door to his hotel in Market Place called Tutti, said: "We have exciting plans for The Ginger Pig, and want to turn the shop into a traditional grocer, rather than a shop selling what I call glamour biscuits, that can be found in every deli in the country."

Mr Wilson said that apart from Ginger Pig stock, local people were being encouraged to try the finest cheeses. He had secured a deal with the award-winning and exclusive cheesemakers Neal's Yard Dairy in London's Covent Garden.

His new staff were for the first time receiving training in the products sold, including the new cheeses. "It is important that when a customer asks: What is in this sausage?', we can give an expert and reassuring answer."