An Egremont bakery is getting ready to expand due to popular demand.
Emma’s Bakes, on Main Street, is taking on an additional premises in the town to offer catered events and expand their outside catering.
The cafe is still the business’s main base of operation – but its popularity means it needs more facilities to meet demand.
Owners Emma, 31, and husband Chris Scurr, 39, of Egremont, will be taking on the former O’Halloran’s space in The Falcon Club, on Croadella Avenue.
The pair are planning to redecorate the space and use it to host public and private afternoon teas, themed events, movie nights, entertainment evenings, parties, Christenings, weddings and more.
Emma said: “Basically the Falcon came up in the right place at the right time. We’ve been outgrowing our space so we were always eventually planning to look for something a bit bigger to keep up with demand.
“Our outside catering we do is getting a lot busier and we’re working on top of each other trying to fit it all in at the moment.
“So we needed something a bit more organised to help everyone out and when the Falcon advertised the space we thought we’d go down and have a look and see what they have to offer.”
Emma’s Bakes also has a garage turned professional kitchen space in Thornhill.
Emma said she was hoping the new space at the Falcon will help the team streamline the catering, wholesale and event sides of the business – while also providing something new for the town in collaboration with The Falcon Club.
She added: “Our idea for the space is to work with The Falcon Club to do catering for events on a bigger scale.
“I get asked a lot about things like baby showers, but I haven’t been able to shut the cafe off for things like that.
“But at The Falcon Club, there will be that space for the baby showers, kids’ parties, Christenings, weddings and things like afternoon teas and entertainment events.
“There’s also upstairs rooms here and around eight separate spaces on site as well as the outside you can rent, so there’s lots of potential for events here.
“I think the team at the Falcon are wanting change and to use the space more.”
While the bar on site will continue to be run by the team at The Falcon Club – Emma and Chris will also be giving the bar a makeover as part of their wider decorating plans for the space.
Emma said: “We want to help the Falcon and get more people in using the space and the bar.
“We’ll be doing up the bar and restaurant in the Emma’s Bakes pink and flowery theme and the bar will have more of a cocktail bar vibe to get new people coming in.
“I feel like there’s nowhere around here where you can chill and have a few cocktails, and working with the Falcon means we can do alternative afternoon tea events where we offer Prosecco and gin.
“But we want it to bring the community together just like what we did at the cafe and we want people to chat and come together here.
“So many people come here and use the facilities, but I feel like there’s also a lot of people who don’t know about it too.”
The Emma’s Bakes team won’t be offering a restaurant-style food service.
She said: “We’ve been asked a million times if we’re doing Sunday dinners as that is what was here previously, and it was amazing while it was here, but we’re wanting to change things around and create a different experience through the events instead.
“I think the days of people coming and sitting in a pub are sort of coming to an end. People aren’t just doing that anymore. Here they have pool nights, bingo tournaments and different things to pull people in and they are very popular.
“So what we’re doing is an addition to what the Falcon do and an addition to us, so we’re coming together and it’s going to be totally different to what was here originally.”
Emma and Chris are aiming to open the new events space at the end of August and have already had bookings for special occasions since sharing the expansion news on Facebook.
Emma added: “We’ve had some amazing feedback so far but we’ve also had a few people wondering about what our plans will actually look like.
“I think people don’t know what we’re going to do just yet and are waiting to see what we’re planning.
“But we’re excited to get it done and a bit nervous for opening as when we open it will be for our first event and it won’t be like people just coming in like they do at the cafe.”
