A blind baker is getting ready to open a new café in West Cumbria.
Tina Wood, of Beckermet, will open The Blind Baker café on February 7, at Crossfield Garage in Cleator Moor, in a unit that was formerly home to the West Lakes Hemp Café.
The 46-year-old originally ran the well-loved Woody’s of Flimby café and restaurant with her husband Woody back in 2018, but had to close the venue due to health issues.
But Tina has continued to feed her loyal West Cumbrian customers with the support of her husband – all while being registered blind and a type one diabetic undergoing dialysis.
The pair host a pop up tearoom at the Beckermet Reading Rooms on Saturdays and via the pair’s food wagon, Woody’s, they also host popular bike nights.
Tina said she is now excited to open the new café as a new full-time venture for her to get stuck into.
Tina said: “We originally had Woody’s in 2018, but I had kidney failure, so I couldn’t work and was really poorly at the time.
“So we closed that and we then moved through to Seascale and we have tried a couple of times to set something up, but people don’t always like change!
“But I’m on dialysis at home now and my husband does my treatment for me, and I’m a lot better than I was and I’m sick of sitting around basically!”
Tina will run the new café with Woody and the pair are planning to serve everything from cheesecakes to breakfasts and burgers.
She said: “I thought the name The Blind Baker was quite clever because obviously you blind bake pastry and I’m registered blind myself.
“I just wing it, but I was winging it before I was registered blind! I’ve got no depth perception, so sometimes if I’m doing a cheesecake it will be a molehill, so he does correct me when I need him to!
“But we’ve been at the Reading Rooms in Beckermet since July and we’ve been doing sausage rolls, pies, light lunches, paninis, cheesecakes, burgers and breakfast items, so we’ll be serving things along those lines.
“The sausage rolls people really like, we’re going to the same butcher we used to use in Maryport, Walsh’s Butchers, for our meat, because we know it’s really good and that’s what everyone wants!”
The pair will also be sprucing up the new café ahead of February and hosting a small opening celebration for people who have supported the pair over the years.
Tina added: “I’m excited to get back into a routine, we do have quite a good following, so at the Reading Rooms we’ve had people come from Maryport and down as far as Broughton for food, people are desperate for us!
“People say oh you’re getting closer and closer, because we’ve gone from Seascale, to Beckermet and now to Cleator Moor.
“But one of our friend’s was on the town council in Cleator Moor, so she’s bringing the chair with her on the first day we open.
“We’ve had so much support we’re going to have an old codgers party to celebrate opening for anyone that has helped us over the past three or four years.”
The Blind Baker café will be open Tuesday to Saturday from Saturday February 7 onwards.
