BOLTON'S famous pastie shop has stopped Saturday opening - for the first time in 106 years.

Ye Olde Pastie Shoppe, which employs more than 20 staff, closed its doors to Saturday customers for the last time to allow staff to have weekends to themselves.

Owner Marie Walsh says that her hard-working team deserve the chance to enjoy a Friday night on the town without having to think about getting up at 3.30am on Saturday mornings.

It will be the first time in its history that the shop, which has fans across the globe, has not opened at weekend.

Mrs Walsh said: "I know it is our busiest day and people will think we are mad, but it is so I can have a life of my own. It gets too much.

"I know it's a brave decision. Our accountant was completely stuck for words, but the staff are delighted."

Staff at the shop work on Sundays and bank holidays even when the shop is closed to prepare for the day ahead, starting in the early hours of the morning.

Mrs Walsh says that the shop has so much business on Saturdays that her retired husband Jack, aged 72, often has to be called in to help.

She says it is also becoming difficult to replace staff when they leave, as many people prefer not to work at weekends.

The shop can trace its business history back to 1667 when it was a pork butcher's. But it is believed parts of the building could be 600 years old.

It became a pastie shop in 1898 and has remained one of the most popular takeaway lunchtime haunts of Bolton shoppers and workers ever since.