HER grandparents owned a coach company, her mother ran her own hairdressing business and her dad became a self-employed driving instructor.

Now Tina Pemberton and her two daughters have all shown their entrepreneurial flair by starting their own businesses within a year of each other.

Tina, 47, of White Ash Lane, Oswaldtwistle, started her own sandwich shop, Tit-Bits, in Whalley Road, Clayton-le-Moors, in November last year.

She was followed by daughter Natalie, 28, who in January began her own franchise of the renowned Kip McGrath Education Centre, teaching after-school English and maths to youngsters, in Blackburn Road, Darwen.

And last month Tina's other daughter, 25-year-old Louise, opened Little Tinkers -- her own baby clothes shop in Union Road, Oswaldtwistle, after realising there was nowhere else in her home town to buy clothes for daughter Grace.

Tina, who runs her shop with friend Bev McDowell, said: "There must be something in our family's blood that makes us all want to run our own business.

"Bev and I had worked in kitchens for many years in the pub trade and we decided we could do exactly the same for ourselves rather than working for someone else.

"We looked into it further and found the right premises and things are going well so far."

Tina, who also has a son Brian, 19, added: "I'm very proud of my daughters too because they have shown a lot of guts to decide to go it alone too."

It was the same desire to be self-employed that led Natalie and Louise to start their own business.

Natalie, also of White Ash Lane, said: "I was teaching at a local primary school when I saw an advert in a teaching magazine looking for teachers to run a Kip McGrath Education Centre franchise.

"I contacted them to find out more and decided to take the plunge. They have been really supportive and I'm finding running my own business really rewarding."

Louise, of Bright Street, Oswaldtwistle, used to work in paediatric homecare for the NHS, but her life changed when she had her own baby. She said: "I did not want to go back to my own job to pay for childcare. I had realised I could not get any clothes in Oswaldtwistle for her so I decided that was something I could do.

"I did all the research, put a business plan together, went to the bank and now here I am. I've only been here a month but I've had some good feedback so far."

The trio hope that business brains will continue to flourish in their family. "Grace is only seven-months-old, but I'm teaching her already that she could be good at running a business," joked Louise.