A young Polish couple who fell in love with Liverpool have set up a bakery in Wirral.
Pati Wlodarek and Bart Ruszkowski, both 30, chose to settle in the city in 2016 after adventuring around Norway in a camper van.
They have now opened OLAWA Bakery in the Cherry Tree Centre in Liscard, Wallasey, specialising in authentic Polish breads and cakes and pastries.
The shop opened on April 1 and Pati said they have been blown away by the response.
She said: "On the first day I even took a book to read because we did not know how it was going to go.
"These things can take time and there are quite a few shops in the Cherry Tree, so we thought we might get one or two people coming in to have a look.
"But we were so busy, we worked three 12-hour days in a row.
"It was so wonderful, to be welcomed and be part of such a lovely community and to see the feedback on our Facebook page."
Pati said the idea to start the Bakery began when Bart lost his job as a lorry driver during the pandemic. It was then they thought they would take the plunge and start a business.
OLAWA is a franchise with stores across the UK, including one in Waterloo, Liverpool, but Pati did her homework and visited the main bakery in Sheffield a number of times.
She said: "I had been a customer of their breads, but after seeing them and how they were made, I fell in love.
"Everything is as authentic as possible, all traditional recipes and most of the ingredients are imported from Poland to get the flavour right.
"In fact, we had a 'sandwich bread' that has poppy seeds and sesame seeds on, but because of Brexit we had trouble importing the seeds, so we couldn't make it.
"We also only ever sell bread and pastries for one day - everything is fresh, delivered before 6am every morning.
"They are all handmade, which is why some look different because they were made and cooked in different batches.
"The response from customers has been such a nice surprise."
Pati, who now lives in Walton with their huge German Shepherd, added: "We came to Liverpool because our friend lived here with his family, but now it is our home - we love this city, life is better here."
OLAWA Bakery is on Wallasey Road next to Wilko and opposite KFC, and you can find them on Facebook here.
