A family-run bakery and cafe is set to join a developing riverside leisure and creative quarter in Melksham, Wiltshire.
The Good Loaf Café will become the latest food and drink business to arrive at the Avonside area, where a dairy factory used to stand on the banks of the River Avon.
The site hosts weekly pop-up street food events and outdoor markets, and also offers flexible workspace for businesses, with dressmaker Inspired Brides and Thomas Reynolds Financial Planning among the local companies based there.
Its owner, Create Real Estate, is now looking for other businesses to fill available units, including within the old factory itself..
The eatery will open in March, with an exact opening date still to be announced, and will occupy an existing building at the site which is being redeveloped.
The business is the new venture of Bath-based couple Emma Savage and Alan Bennett. Mr Bennett is the former head baker of the one of the spa town’s oldest bakeries, Bakers of Bath.
Ms Savage previously ran fashion retail business Grace & Ted in central Bath for nearly a decade with her mother Sharon Savage, who will also join the team at The Good Loaf Café.
After closing her shop during the pandemic, Ms Savage decided to turn her hobby of baking into a business. The owners said the cafe would not create any new jobs initially but they hoped to take on staff as the business grows.
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Ms Savage said: "We're so excited to open up at Avonside and join the community. We can't wait to get everything in place in The Good Loaf Café's first home and start serving up the freshly baked breads, cakes and meals which we make ourselves.
"We knew from our very first chat with Create that Avonside was the place for us. The vision for the area was really refreshing and we made up our minds at that moment that it was something we wanted our bakery and café to be part of".
Ricky Humphreys, director at Create Real Estate, said: "As part of Avonside's transition to a creative quarter and leisure destination for Wiltshire, it is our vision to bring together an exciting mix of independent food and drink businesses along the riverside, supporting start-ups in particular.
"After the successful launch of the now permanent Scoff Pop-up street food concept, The Good Loaf Café marks the next step towards making this vision a reality.
“We're having conversations with a range of other exciting independent businesses and are open to exploring a diverse mix of opportunities for the space at Avonside.”
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