Just nine months after taking over the Village Café on High Street, a popular Ruddington businesswoman has now also taken on The Old Bakehouse shop and café on Church Street. Stacey Black, a former caterer with Nottinghamshire County Council, has acquired the lease for the premises which are still owned by Horspool family member Pat Adkin. Stacey told me “A bakery outlet ties in perfectly with the café business and initially I’ll be sourcing all our bread, fresh each day, from a local baker. Eventually, I’m looking to acquire the rest of the building too, with a view to re-starting the old bakery on site. But a lot of the original ovens and equipment have been removed so it’ll be quite costly to put back.”
From the start of this month, new recruit Denise has taken over the day to day running of the Village Café whilst Stacey concentrates on her new bakery business. But existing café staff will be trained to work at both premises. “I won’t be changing too much at the bakery to start with and will still be offering celebration cakes, packed lunches and food on site as before. But I’m planning to offer discounts between the café and bakery to encourage customers old and new.”
Soon there’ll be a new name on the frontage too. “The Village Bakery, Ruddington” is now at your service!
(Researched & written by Graham Wright)