My food journey started when I sold a jar of coriander for 79p

“It was November 28, 1990 and I sold one thing, a jar of ground coriander for 79p”, he laughs. “I remember the brand too, Rajah, a wee green tub. My mother said to me: “What have we done”! And I said: ‘Give me a chance, it’s only my first day’. But from that day we never looked back and it certainly didn’t put me off.”

From humble beginnings come great things.

Back then Paul’s Belfry Deli shop was situated beneath the popular Belfry Restaurant at Church Lane run by his food-loving parents Jim, who at 83 still tends to his vegetable garden and three greenhouses and his late inspirational mother Anne.

He was a fresh-faced 23-year-old Business and Finance graduate from the University of Glamoran in Wales, returning home in 1987 to work in the family business for three years.

He had a simple idea: to give the Co Londonderry town something it never had before.

“Another deli in town came up for sale but we thought it was over-priced, so we decided to open our own, we thought it would be a good business” recalls Paul.

“I’d recently been on a holiday to New York and it gave me some ideas for making sandwiches,the way they’d cut the fresh meat into their sandwiches, the dressings they used, the different breads, like bagels.

“It was something that wasn’t being done here and was a niche market. Back then more people were starting to go on foreign holidays and were coming home with more eclectic tastes. They wanted to try some of the cheeses or meats that they’d had when they were away and they wanted them all year round.

“For me, it was just the right time to open the business. There was Sawers in Belfast, a fine food emporium which had been going for a long time, so why would something like that not work in Coleraine? I felt I hit it at the right time.

“Combining the fine food sales with the sandwich trade at lunchtime was key as one wouldn’t work without the other. They complemented one another perfectly.”

A talented baker and cook, his late mum Anne - a huge beacon in his life and well known locally for her wonderful home-baked apple tarts and chicken and ham pie - gently encouraged him to grow the fledgling business.

Paul recalls the “hard slog” and punishingly long hours of those early days - and that hasn’t changed. But he says it was another inspirational female figure who was to play an unforseen role in the rapid development of his business.

At that time TV cook Delia Smith’s television series was spawning a brand new generation of home cooks. She introduced products like Maldon crystal sea salt and sunblush tomatoes into the national consciousness. When Delia cooked with cranberries sales rose by 200 percent the next day. She was the original influencer.

“That was our first big break”, Paul recalls, “and it came at the end of our first year’s trading, the whole ‘Delia effect’. So I got the list of ingredients of the dishes she was cooking every week on her programme.

“I remember after the very first show people were coming in the next day looking for Kalamata olives, elderflower cordial, whole cumin seeds and two-year-old parmesan.

“We only happpened to have a couple of those ingredients but that just opened a whole new dimension for us. Delia always used to say that you’d be able to buy these from a good deli.So for the rest of the series I was able to source and buy the ingredients and spices. No one else around here was doing that so it was unique to the business.”

Paul describes Delia as the ‘matriarch” of the then burgeoning larder of TV chefs. “She was such an influence it was unreal. I had so many housewives coming into the shop the next day looking for ingredients that Delia had used the night before. She really was a phenomenon in her own right.

“Hers were tried and trusted recipes which really resonated with people and more importantly they were usually something anyone could make. So we got more and more customers from local women’s institutes and mothers’ unions who really bought into that whole thing. That was something very big in our community then and still is.”

In an interview with his local paper The Coleraine Times a few months after opening Paul said he hoped to make his business “a shop of the people, a sort of gastronmic haven.” It wasn’t long before ‘legendary’ queues snaked from the shop down Church Lane - in the shadow of Coleraine’s magnificent St Patrick’s Church - for freshly-prepared Belfry sandwiches.

People waited in all weathers because they knew what they were getting was good. Where else could you get an Italian Ciabata with mascarpone cheese, pesto salami and continental salad at lunchtime?

When a local garage owner contacted Paul asking for pre-packed sandwiches - because the queues were just too long - the business began to supply other outlets in local towns.

The distinctive orange and black-labelled Belfry products included not just sandwiches but wraps and baguettes, salad bowls and the deli’s trademark coleslaw and potato salad.

“We now supply 22 local outlets a day with our products so it’s a big and demanding operation. We make that day to sell that day and that’s why we stick to our locality. At one time I was approached with an investment to make it bigger but I stayed with the idea that we only supplied fresh and local. Quality and freshness has always been paramount to us.”

The business subsequently secured important contracts with the University of Ulster and The National Trust and its reputation grew far beyond the confines of the Causeway Coast, itself emerging as a food destination.

Within a few years the Belfry was listed in the prestigious Top 100 Fine Food Shops in the British Isles and was a finalist in the UK Sandwich of the Year awards run by the British Sandwich Association.

But the seminal moment came five years ago this month when Paul “took a leap of faith” and invested £60,000 on moving the shop to a more central location to Abbey Street in Coleraine.

“It was the best thing we’d ever done, a total game changer.

“It really was about location, location, location. We are now on a busy street close to offices and shops so there was ready-made lunchtime trade on our doorstep.

“We had to do an entire refit, buy in new refridgeration, ovens and kitchen equipment, displays and even new flooring. We obviously brought a lot with us from the first shop but that had to be supplemented.We noticed the response and the footfall right away. Some customers even thought we’d closed but discovered us again and then it was all about word of mouth.

“The move was a new lease of life, a new chapter. We had 25 years in business under us so we were bringing all that knowledge and experience to the new shop. It allowed us to take the business to a new and higher level and concentrate on what we’re really good at.

“Our full time baker Fiona Walker joined the team and she has never been busier. She bakes wheaten, scones, tray bakes, muffins, apple and rhubarb tarts, lemon meringue, cheesecakes, muffins, pancakes and banoffees - so those are a great selling point.”

Paul describes the deep concern of closing his doors for two months in March due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I furloughed nine staff and re-opened gradually from the middle of May, bringing in one or two staff at the start,” he says.

“We were closed for eight weeks. Nobody knew what this virus was about, what was going to happen, it was a very uncertain and worrying time, not just for myself and the business but for my staff. So re-opening was a joyous day and such a relief. I believe I timed it just right.”

Of course lockdown has brought with it an explosion of interest in home cooking and baking. UK grocers saw a 92% increase in purchasing of flour in the four weeks to 22 March, according to consumer research by Kantar. That’s an extra 2.1 million people who bought flour in those four weeks compared with the year before. People took to their kitchens to cook that dish they always wanted or simply to try something new. It was a culinary escape from monotony.

Paul reports that post-lockdown sales of cheese have rocketed. “We really couldn’t keep cheese on the shelves.

“One of our most popular is Black Bomber which is a two-year-old vintage cheddar from Snowdonia Company in Wales. It’s absolutely delicious but there were many others too. People are putting a lot more effort into cooking and baking at home because really they are entertaining for themselves right now. They’re not going out to restaurants.

“So we have been doing lots of cheeseboards and obviously the things that go with them like biscuits, chutneys and relishes. We’ve easily seen a 30 percent increase in sales of cheese. That all trickles into other areas of the business with pates and breads also in demand.

“Since our move to our new shop we have had 15% year-on year growth over the past five years and we hope it continues.”

Not only has the Coleraine-born businessman been able to grow his customer base over three decades of relentless dedication, but he has done so with many long-serving staff being part of the success story.

Donna Toner and Carol McAuley will mark 30 years service in the business early next year and others, like Doris Coole,retired after working alongside Paul for 23 years. The Belfry family evidently stays together and thrives together, something Paul is very proud of.

“I’m blessed that these staff and many others stayed for me for a very long time. I couldn’t have done it without them. They have helped make the businesss what it is today.

“We know a lot of customers by their first name and they know us by first name. You’re seeing some people two or three times a week so relationships are being built. The staff have a chat and laugh with our customers and that’s the kind of friendly welcome we want them to experience.”

Always eager to support Ulster artisans and food suppliers Paul stocks crowd pleasers like Broighter Gold rapeseed oil from Limavady, Irish Black Butter from Portrush, Sprotts dry cured bacon and ham from Portadown, and fine tea and coffee from SD Bell, Belfast. He has also brought in superb chilli jam, onion marmalade, chutneys and jams from exciting companies like Tracklements and Cottage Delight.

Paul champions provenance so that his customers know their food journey.

“Our industry is always changing, there’s always new foods and products on the market. You need to know what you are selling: what it tastes like, what its uses are, whether it is multi-purpose, or what might go with it.

“Over the years I’ve just learnt more and more, about the provenance of the goods, how they are made and where they come from. More than ever that is important right now.

“Generally 80 percent of my suppliers do not supply big multiples, the Tesco and Asda etc, but independent trade only. People come into me to buy specialist items so they have to be of a certain quality. It’s the quality of product and the service which hopefully keeps them coming back.

“And if a customer has something they are looking for we do our best to source it and get it for them. That’s very important to us, to offer that niche service.In many ways we are an old-style family-run business where food is prepared fresh, right in front of you. We cut our Sprotts bacon and ham off the roll as well as our other cold meats and cheese.

“My business depends on repeat customers,it’s not like someone going out and buying a pair of shoes every once in a while.”

It’s 10,916 days since Paul opened his transformative business. The pandemic has irrevocably changed how we think about what we eat. People are buying less processed food and working out how to make stuff themselves. We are falling in love with food again.

As the author James Salter says, ‘Life is meals.”

“We are now seeing excellent Facebook campaigns calling on the community to support small independent retailers like myself and these are making an impact. It gives us hope,” Paul adds.

“I opened during a recession and have stayed open through two others if you count the current pandemic. So I’m still here and hope to be for a long time yet.”

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