A POPULAR Ambleside family business of long standing in the community will be celebrating its 30th year of trading in 2022.

The Old Bank House Chocolate Shop, located on Lake Road, has been owned and operated by the Farran family since 1992.

The business will be celebrating its anniversary on Good Friday this year.

Founded by Mark and Michelle Farran, who have run the business with their son Daniel and their daughter Becky, the chocolate shop has been held in very high regard within the community whilst being praised for its high-quality customer service.

Their son Daniel said: “We will be celebrating our anniversary in April this year, on Good Friday of all days.

“My parents travel to the shop every day, making the trip from Blackpool every day.

“Literally every day for the past 30 years they have done it.

“My mum and dad are primarily shop based while I am currently leading the online venture at the moment.

“We have a social media presence which really helps us reach a wider audience, especially as people are coming out of lockdown where that online presence is becoming more important.

“For us it was tricky during the pandemic and we were very thankful for the council aid we got during that time.

“Now business is booming.

“We have had a big increase in the levels of tourism in the Lake District.

“While people were unable to go abroad, they came to the Lakes and that did so much for business.

“It means we get the opportunity to produce a lot and really take advantage of the current climate of business.

“It was difficult for so many places round here so it’s uplifting to see them get thrown a life line with the tourism.

“In our front of house, you can see a lot of the production as it’s happening which really helps to bring in the customers.

“People love to see the chocolate being made.

“It’s about an hour and a quarter journey every day to the shop but I’ve done it since my teenage years.

“It’s all hand made here. Me and my mum are the Chocolatiers while my dad takes care of the business side of things. My sister Becky also works with us part time, and we have a person who recently started named Giles. He’s a family friend and he’s really helping us out.

“This whole thing starts with my Grandfather Robert who made his own business in Windermere and we took the name from that and went to Ambleside where we knew we could get a good stream of trade from the tourism the area was known for. Also, it’s such a good area, from the landscape to the people. Hopefully we will keep this going for generations. I’ve been working here since I was young and we love it here.”