A West Cumbrian beach café is set to reopen under a new operator.
The former Hartley’s Beach Shop and Café in St Bees is set to be transformed into Beach Road Bakehouse by Georgina Goulding, 27, of Whitehaven.
Gina – whose business Bakes By Gina used to supply cakes wholesale to the former café – has taken over the venue from the Richardson family.
The family took over the Hartley’s brand in 1983 but ceased trading at the end of December.
Gina, who is hoping to reopen the new bakehouse in the spring, said opening a café has been a lifelong dream for her.
She said: “I’ve always been in the hospitality sector and I’ve always wanted to have a café, I’m 27 now but I was hoping to be 50 by the time I opened one!
“But I was looking at my business plan as such and looking for idyllic locations, you can’t get much better than a Coast to Coast location.
“It’s my lifetime dream achieved at 27, so that’s exciting, it’s also a bit daunting, but the response we’ve had from the locals and people online and reaching out – to be honest, I wasn’t expecting that volume of people to get in touch. I do feel like I have the support of local people.
“But Bakes By Gina grew its wholesale because Hartley’s was our first wholesaler, so I’ve got a lot of respect for the Richardson family as without them we wouldn’t be as well known as we are now.”
Gina added that while the spirit of the beach café will remain the same in her new venture – she is planning to bring new ideas to the space.
She said: “We’re hoping to venture into wholesale bread. We’ve just hired someone from a pastry chef background, so the future is looking really bright.
“He is going to help us grow the sales of things like in-house made sourdough, focaccia and croissants, so the Bakehouse will be a reflection of Bakes By Gina, but it will be a lot more savoury and café vibes.
“It will be things like homemade meals, breakfasts, and brunches and we will look into things like fish and chips with the location.
“The café side of the business will be a new venture for me, I’ve got my feet under the table for the cakes, but café life will be new.”
Gina is also planning to serve homemade ice cream and create a beach shop space, stocking local produce, essentials and gifts.
She added: “We will do a soft opening in spring where we serve homemade ice cream, coffees, homemade cakes and homemade in-house bread.
“That will be the soft launch until we get our kitchen up and running in time for summer to extend our menu. The ethos of then café will remain and the shop will be maintained and will be will be local produce focused, the necessities and some nice local gifts for holidaymakers.”
The 27-year-old is also doing some renovation work to put her own stamp on the venue and reconfigure its layout.
She added in the coming weeks she will also be asking local people for suggestions on local produce and makers they would like to see stocked in the bakehouse.
Gina said.: “My current position is we want to open as soon as we can, but there’s a lot of building work and renovations to do and we want to look into our options of local suppliers too.
“We haven’t got an opening date just yet as such, but I will be putting links and things on Facebook to see what local people want in their local café.”
Gina added that she is also actively looking for pastry chefs interested in a new role and she has also offered employment first to former employees of the beach café.
Gina first launched Bakes By Gina in 2021, after growing up with a passion for baking and working in the hospitality industry as a youngster.
She started out by selling traybakes from home while working as an apprentice and studying for her degree in civil engineering.
Her traybakes proved incredibly popular, which prompted her to attend markets in Whitehaven in 2023 with support from TEG Retail’s Jenny Brumby.
It was there Gina had her first wholesale enquiry to stock her bakes at Hartley’s Beach Shop and Café in St Bees.
In 2024 she opened a commercial unit in Kells and also obtained the unit next door, which she is currently renovating to offer an improved cake counter and to serve breakfast and lunch deals alongside her bakes.
She also won Mitie’s business boost competition which saw her win £10,000 to put towards growing her business.
It’s a feat she has achieved all while working full-time for Cleator Moor construction company William King, who she said have been supportive of her growing business.
Gina now supplies to several businesses in the area and employs eight members of staff – of which she is planning to grow with the opening of Beach Road Bakehouse. She also has a contract supplying thousands of cakes to Sellafield Ltd weekly.
Passionate about supporting other local businesses – Gina is also hoping to chair Cumbrian Larder – an initiative created by Caterite to support Cumbrian food suppliers.
She is also planning to set up Bakes By Gina Academy CIC, an initiative she hopes will give people from disadvantaged backgrounds the chance to get hands-on hospitality experience to help give them a head start in the industry.
