HAVING discovered a shared passion for pairing fabulous wine with delicious food, sisters Kate and Kelly Latham opened Pairings Wine Bar in 2015.

After nearly three years of being open, Pairings is now hoping for success in the Small Business of the Year, and Retail Tourism and Leisure Business of the Year awards.

As a business which strives to offer locally-sourced produce to pair with high-quality drinks, menus change every six months to reflect seasonal changes at the Castlegate venue.

Serving premium pairings of wine and food hasn’t deterred customers from visiting Pairings Wine Bar, in fact the team’s ethos to champion high-quality drinks and locally-sourced produce has enabled the business to not just thrive financially, but also in terms of reputation.

The sisters are both visionary and collaborative leaders, who know how they want to move their business forward for the next 12 months and are constantly evolving and implementing their aims from their long-term business strategy to develop their business further.

Before Pairings opened, they purposely made sure that their venue space was designed to be as versatile and flexible as possible.

Their objective was to generate a space which people and organisations could hire out for events and special occasions.

Three years later, this vision has been fulfilled and presents Pairings as a fully inclusive and diverse venue for all to enjoy.

The venue is regularly hired out to community and corporate groups.

Kelly and Kate are currently exploring new ways in which to enhance their business further not only to increase the customer experience, but to also generate more business and employment opportunities.

Currently they are looking at ways to enhance their Pairing Experiences to encourage more people to explore the world of wine in an informal setting.

Due to the success of Pairings Wine Bar, Kelly and Kate are also considering establishing a second drink concept bar in York, which will generate even greater employment opportunities for local people.

Pairings Wine Bar is also environmentally friendly, and they recycle all their glass bottles and have changed over to biodegradable takeaway containers.

They’re also going to be moving onto using paper straws only shortly.

The Pairings team are also passionate about charity and community causes and have supported charities and causes such as SASH, The Brain Tumour Charity and York Pride.