AWARD-WINNING Birkenshaw butchers Ian and Paul Hopkins are set to retire and close their shop tomorrow.

The brothers, who have had the P&I Hopkins shop on Bradford Road for 32 years, are stepping down because they are coming up to retirement age and have had health problems.

Ian Hopkins said: “It is time for us to go.”

He said the younger end of the market were not eating as much meat and when they do they buy ready meals from supermarkets. “We’ve had a very quiet year,” he added.

The closure news of the traditional shop has been met with sadness by its fans.

One loyal and upset customer contacted the T&A to say: “The village will be heartbroken.

“They’ve served the village and they started their business there and built up a very loyal following over the years. It’s spanning the generations.”

Reviewers of the shop on Google rated their pork pies highly, either hot or cold, one saying: “They are always consistently excellent. Nowhere else comes close.”

Another said: "Beautiful pork pies the taste is a throwback to Philip Smith butchers in Ivegate, Bradford, when people queued ages to get served them."

The brothers, who own the premises, say they will wait to see what they will do with it.

They have many awards over the years, particularly for their pork pies, and even supplied pies for the BBC drama South Riding in 2011.

Paul said they were asked to create pies to reflect the 1930s era for the three-part adaptation of Winifred Holtby's book filmed around Yorkshire.

The team provided 36 pies which appeared in a scene where a woman is seen selling them to workmen.

"We are chuffed. It's another compliment to us. I am always proud to be a Yorkshireman and being in a Yorkshire series like that must be good," said Paul at the time.

The two brothers made history in 2006 by simultaneously holding presidential positions in the Confederation of Yorkshire Butchers Councils.

Paul and Ian were voted in as All Yorkshire President and North West Riding President respectively.

Paul, 62, said at the time: "As a Yorkshire man, to be president of all Yorkshire makes me feel very proud. It's quite an achievement."

The brothers started their business in 1987. They both started in the trade as Saturday lads, went on to work full time and then decided to branch out on their own.

Ian, 54, said: "We both knew we could do the job and so we made the decision to start our own business. To be honest, we've never looked back."