A POLISH delicatessen has opened in Blackburn to cater for the 3,000 ex-pats living in East Lancashire.

Witold Stachowski and his wife Agnieszka moved to Accrington after Witold, a former welder, accepted a job in East Lancashire.

After discovering there were some 3,000 Poles living in the area, the couple decided to bring a little piece of their homeland to East Lancashire and have opened DaDa in Accrington Road, Blackburn.

It sells food and drink made from Polish ingredients to authentic recipes and smoked in a natural way.

All the meats are imported from the Kampinos National Park in Poland.

Witold, 35, said: "In the past couple of years there has been an explosion in immigration.

"People were finding it difficult to find traditional Polish produce so we decided to open the shop.

"We have people from all over coming to the shop, not just Polish people either. They love the natural flavours.

"It is also good for the Polish people who have just arrived here to be able to touch base with their fellow countrymen."

Agnieszka, 34, who worked for a Polish newspaper in their home city, Szczecin, near Berlin, said: "Witold has worked all over the world and had just been in Norway.

"When we arrived in the UK we decided we wanted to open a business and work together.

"I had a baby while we were here and it suits us having our own business.

"It enables us to take it in turns to run the shop and look after Daria, who is now nine months old."

Since Poland joined the European Union in 2004, 98,000 workers have arrived in the UK.

There is a Polish Church in Preston New Road and a Polish translator works in Blackburn job centre.