Bake-er-cake

A huge thank you to the Kent Messenger for taking the time to hear our story and share it with the community. We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to explain our situation and raise awareness of the challenges facing small home-based businesses.

Please take a read before making assumptions. This has never been about trying to avoid paying fees or following rules. If I need to pay, then I will happily pay. My concern is that when I set up my cake shed 9 months ago, I was never informed that a street trading licence would be required. Had I been told at the start, I would have dealt with it then.

For over 10 years I have run my cake business from home and have always taken my responsibilities seriously. I am fully insured, hold a 5-star food hygiene rating, have completed food hygiene and allergen awareness training, and all of my pre-packaged products are fully labelled with ingredients and allergen information.

Like many other small businesses, I have invested a lot of time, money and effort into creating something for my family and customers. All we are asking for is fairness, clarity and a chance to be heard.

The good news is that I will be back open on 12th June! At the moment, we have been told that we can continue trading and will not be fined while discussions are ongoing, which is a huge relief.

For now, I’m taking a week away with my cousin for some much-needed girlie time before getting back to what I love most – baking and getting the cake shed back up and running.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us, shared our posts and taken the time to listen. Your support means the world, and I can’t wait to see you all again on 12th June! ❤️🧁

It’s been a very busy morning and we just wanted to say a massive thank you for all your support, kind messages and everyone who has visited us 💖

Sadly, we do have a little bit of bad news at the moment. We have been told that we are unable to continue trading until we obtain a street trading licence, as the council are now making cake sheds apply for one — even though this is on our own private property.

So for now, we will unfortunately have to pause trading until this has been authorised and we can work out the best way forward. Please bear with us while we try to navigate everything and get things sorted.

We will keep everyone updated with anything we hear and any progress made. In the meantime, if you would like to pop by and grab any last bits before we temporarily close, please do 💕

Thank you again for all the continued support — it truly means the world to us.