IN an honoured tradition dating back more than 700 years, Alcester Court Leet knocked on the doors of local businesses and food stores last weekend for the annual town assizes.

Assizing is a medieval form of trading standards that was introduced to Alcester by Edward 1st when it became a market town in 1297.

After the Magna Carta was signed the weights and measurements came in and thus the Court Leet are still policing these traditions in to the 21st century.

Alcester Country Market was tested on its leather goods, home baked bread, and handmade sausage rolls.

After rigorously testing the leather, weighing and tasting the bread, and tasting the sausage rolls, members of the Court Leet questioned Clare Hill, market manager, about the caricature of the producers and their methods.

Thankfully all passed with flying colours.

Clare said: "We were issued with certificates signed by the High Bailiff, flesh taster, sealer of leather, and bread weigher, to prove that our goods are 'wholesome and fit and human consumption'."

"We were also given a sprig of evergreen for the benefit of customers unable to read (a custom going back hundreds of years)."