Little Chocolate Shop is born!

In the wake of no café customers due to the Foot and Mouth restrictions the first chocolate was made in a café basement of the Mill buildings at Aysgath Falls thanks to the vision of Claire Gardiner and so the then named Little Chocolate Shop was born.

Little Chocolate Shop moves to Leyburn

From humble beginnings, the Little Chocolate Shop outgrew the premises at Aysgarth Falls and relocated to a larger premises on the High Street.

Purpose Built Premises

Growth and success continued and in 2006, The Little Chocolate shop still under the stewardship of Claire Gardiner moved to a brand new purpose built factory on Leyburn Business Park with a dedicated chocolate room and sweet kitchen enabling visitors to view the whole process.

Ownership change and opening of on site Café

Following a lot of hardwork establishing the business, founder Claire was ready for a rest and so the mantle was taken up by chocolate makers Jim and Lorraine Hogg who introduced a café and workshops.

New Owners

Having steered the helm for 5 years, Jim and Lorraine wished to retire and in March 2017, Richard and Yvonne Warne, whom had a year earlier started a Hamper business took ownership.

Inspired Chocolate!

At the end of June, Little Chocolate Shop closed for a week for a factory refit, reopening its doors under it’s new name Inspired Chocolate reflecting its approach to artisan chocolate making.

The Café was relocated to the front of the building, glass doors put in with an outside seating area and began serving premium Teas, coffees, handmade cakes and light bites. A new dedicated workshop area was built providing excellent facilities for holding chocolate making activities and parties. Substantial investment was also made in facilities across the factory in order to ensure exemplary standards as demanded by new owners Richard and Yvonne.

New Website Goes Live

After a very busy summer, it is out with the old and in with the new and so is born the brand new Inspired Chocolate website!

Factory Refit

Due to the COVID-19 lockdown the opportunity was taken to develop on line sales and while closed, refit the Factory. The Workshop was moved and split into 3 COVID compliant booths. Outside Decking was built at the rear accessible from the Cafe and a colourful new colour scheme and logo was introduced.