A renowned Bristol wholesale bakery which supplies its award-winning cakes to hundreds of venues across the UK has launched a café at its main production hub.
Cakesmiths has opened Bakehouse at its HQ in St Philip's today (April 19), serving coffee from Clifton Coffee Roasters, sandwiches, toasties and of course its huge range of award-winning cakes.
The opening comes five years after Cakesmiths welcomed the first customers to Bakesmiths on Whiteladies Road - and the company hopes the newest addition to its portfolio will prove just as popular.
Company co-founder Tom Batlle thinks the new site will become a "destination café" people from all over Bristol are willing to travel to - as well as a popular stop-off for cyclists joining and leaving the nearby Bristol and Bath Railway Path.
"We've wanted to open a café at our St Philip's warehouse ever since we moved here seven years ago," he said.
"After having this idea for so long it feels brilliant to finally be up and running and we've loved watching people's reactions as they've entered the space today.
"Thousands of cyclists pass the site every weekend as we're right by the cycle path, so we can see Bakehouse being a great spot for them to grab a bite to eat and a drink.
"But we also think it will become a destination café for foodies across Bristol and a great meeting place for people who live and work nearby."
Tom also hopes that owners of cafes who are currently supplied by Cakesmiths as well as prospective customers across the region will visit Bakehouse to "see how we do things".
Those visitors and indeed anyone who stops by can expect to find a vast range of cakes to choose from to eat on site or take away, including hummingbird, rum baba, cinammon swirls, frangipane tart, carrot cake and gooseberry and gin cake.
Head baker John Jones has joined the team from Bath's Bertinet Bakery, while chief 'cake inventor' Mike Smart heads up the 'Cake Lab' where the company's sweet treats are produced.
Bakehouse is located at 6 Kingsland Trading Estate, St Philips Rd, Bristol BS2 0JZ. More information can be found on its Instagram page.
