Vegan bakery aims to capture rising market

The ovens are warming up at a new vegan bakery that has set up in a small factory unit in Alcester.

The Ridge Hill Bakery is run by John McGreal and Millie Slater and specialises in vegan cakes and breakfast delights such as sausages and hash browns.

Redditch-based property agents John Truslove secured a 497 sq ft unit at 11 Tything Road East for the business.

McGreal said: “We ran the café at the Botany Bay garden centre for 18 months and we saw for ourselves the appetite for vegan and vegetarian dishes. Since we left we launched Ridge Hill Bakery on Facebook because we were deluged with queries from former customers wanting to know where they could get hold of our cakes, sausages and hash browns.

“It made starting up our own bakery business a complete no-brainer. And we have been putting a lot of work into issues such as more ecologically-friendly packaging as well.

“We approached property agents John Truslove to help us find the right premises, and the second one they showed us was just what we were looking for.”

Isabelle Ellis, graduate surveyor at John Truslove, added: “Our extensive knowledge of the local commercial property market meant we were quickly able to find the perfect premises for John and Millie. Our landlord client has a promising tenant whose business is set to capitalise on one of the biggest trends in the current food market.”