MOTHER and daughter Jean Cook and Vanessa Hillier, who have run the popular Macklins restaurant in St Peter's Church in Marlborough for the past three years, hang up their pinnies for the last time on Mach 29.

Mrs Cook, who lives in Five Stiles Road and will be 65 later in the year, is retiring and her daughter is returning to nursing at the Highfield residential home on The Common.

Mrs Cook said their three year contract with the St Peter and St Paul's Trust was expiring, providing her with the opportunity to retire.

The mother said she originally went to work in the restaurant, which was previously called Mariners when it was run by Christine Mariner.

She said: "I only intended to stay for a short while to help her out but I ended up taking it over."

Mrs Cook renamed the restaurant Macklins after the nearby alleyway Macklins Court, one of the oldest parts of Marlborough.

The former St Peter's special needs assistant and her daughter, who lives in Laineys Close, have become known for their wide variety of home made cakes and moderately priced lunches.

Mrs Cook said: "We both felt that three years was long enough, especially as neither of us had been in catering before. We took it up as a challenge and we have both loved working here.

"We have made lots of friends but we both want to move on and now is the ideal time."

Mrs Hillier, whose daughters Emily, 15, and Amy, 14, have helped out at the cafe, said: "We have all enjoyed working here, but as our contract is ending it gave us the opportunity to do other things."

The pair are going out on a high note. Their ears are ringing with praise received for the buffet supper they organised for the 100 guests at last week's ceremony in St Peter's to install former mayor Jake Seamer as an honorary Freeman of the Town.