Whether you want caviar or tinned snails, for those who take their food seriously there is nowhere that cuts it quite like Palm’s Delicatessen in the Covered Market, Oxford.

Now after almost a decade of selling speciality food Ailsa Goodall is preparing to hang up her apron, having put the ‘deli of the dons’ up for sale.

Palm’s was started in 1953 by a couple who had emigrated from Germany. But Ms Goodall, who first began working in the Covered Market when she was a student, has built up Palm’s as a retail institution.

The deli, thought to be one of the country’s oldest, has been featured in numerous films and food programmes, including Raymond Blanc’s The Restaurant.

But for Oxford shoppers it will always be viewed as the place where you can find any delicacy, no matter how rare or expensive.

Ms Goodall, 37, said: “I am the fourth owner. We have tried to continue to offer the unusual products that the Oxford community is looking for.”

She said the deli had always prided itself on carrying up to 1,500 lines, importing numerous European gourmet products.

“We have to cater for college dons, Japanese tourists and chefs from local restaurants. We have quite an eclectic clientele.”

Ms Goodall began working in the Covered Market in a gift shop, while studying languages and business at Oxford Brookes University.

She and her former husband, Bill Goodall, had run Fasta Pasta in the Covered Market before buying Palm’s.

Ms Goodall, who lives near Charlbury, said she was considering going into primary school teaching.

She remained hopeful that the tradition of Palm’s, with its sauerkraut, and chocolate marzipan, would be maintained after the sale.

Meanwhile, it was announced this week that the Covered Market would open on Sundays on a permanent basis.

In May last year, the city council launched a Sunday trading trial.

Now council leaders have decided to make the arrangement permanent.