Station is cake stop

IT’s not unusual to find shops at a train station, there is usually a newsagent or someone selling snacks.

But it must be quite rare to find a cake decorating business.

Pam Troop is hoping that a move to the station building at Lea Road will prove to be a platform for greater success.

She owns the One Stop Cake Shop which has transferred from Hickman Street.

And it’s doing so well she has just opened a tea room as well.

Pam, 55, of East Stockwith, said: “We looked at empty properties in town and then saw this one.”

“It had more prospects and car parking and has a lot of character.”

It also brings the passing trade of rail passengers, many of them glad to see a tea room.

“We’ve had people coming in for a drink while waiting for someone off a train, and we’ve got a group of 12 railway people coming in when they’re here to inspect the station.”

“We’re doing traditional cakes, baked here. As the weather changes we’ll probably start doing sausage rolls and soup as well.”

Pam has been in business for more than ten years. She opened her first shop on Church Street, before moving to Hickman Street, and has built up a loyal customer base.

“I’ve done kids’ birthday cakes and am now doing their wedding cakes and their children’s cakes,” she said.

“I’ve got people who always come to me for their cakes, which is lovely.”

“I had one lad ordering his wedding cake and when I asked him why he’d come to us he said it was because we’d always been there. He used to pass the shop every day on his way to school and said he would never have gone anywhere else.”

Pam has been baking and decorating cakes for 27 years, working from home before getting her own shop.

It all started when she made a cake for her youngest daughter’s first birthday.

She said: “It was a bit of a joke with a neighbour, who suggested we make a cake for Cheryl’s birthday.”

“It turned out well so I thought I would do some more and it just grew from there. I started making cakes for family and friends and gradually it started to take over the whole house, with cake making stuff everywhere,”

“So my husband Jess, who has always been really supportive of me, suggested we look for a shop.”

Pam and Jess have five daughters and the business has become a bit of a family affair.

Cheryl and grand-daughters Paige and Rhiannon Martins, help out, and Pam’s sister Donna Simons also works part-time in the shop.

Oldest daughter Tamatha, 36, runs their Newark shop, which opened last year after requests from customers travelling to the Gainsborough shop.

Pam has hundreds of photos of wedding, christening, anniversary and birthday cakes she has made over the years.

One of her more unusual recent requests was for a 300-piece profiterole tower - known as a croquembouche - for a wedding.

Her shop is the only one in the area with such a comprehensive range of cake decorating equipment and she teaches sugarcraft on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

For more information call 01427 610000.