PAUL Godley (right) has found the answer to the old conundrum - which came first: the chicken or the egg?

The answer, says 24-year-old Paul, is definitely the egg, and he can prove it.

Now that his Paul's Eggs business has successfully carved a niche delivering fresh eggs to Harrogate, he is preparing to conquer the hotels and restaurant of York.

Not long after he was made redundant as a gardener at the Majestic Hotel in Harrogate, Paul saw a door-to-door egg salesman in his neighbourhood.

"I thought: hotels and restaurants get through huge amounts of eggs. Someone must get them to their door. Why not me?"

And in his hunt for the golden egg of success he received a £2,500 Prince's Trust loan to buy his van and then set up a supplier in Harrogate.

Now he is constantly busy delivering tomorrow's sunny-side-ups for tourists and visitors and is opening the scope of his business to York. He is also thinking about branching out into organic vegetables. "Restaurants are constantly asking if that's possible so I think it could be worthwhile."

Meanwhile he is sticking to eggs sales.

So why doesn't he branch out into chickens to cut costs? "I've seriously thought about it," he says. "But first things first....."

Updated: 10:47 Tuesday, February 26, 2002