Backing for bakery expansion

THE owners of a bakery in Watlington who want to expand the business with additional premises have won the support of the parish council.

Alex Tait and his teenage daughter Kitty, who run the Orange Bakery in High Street, want to use the former scout hall behind the Watlington Club.

Kitty, 16, started the business in her parents’ kitchen at their home in Gorwell before she and her father opened the shop in May last year.

The pair say a larger bakery would also allow them to take on apprentices.

The Watlington Club, a charity which owns the scout hall, has agreed to offer them a lease providing that South Oxfordshire District Council, the planning authority, approves the conversion work.

The parish council said it supported the restoration and conversion of the former scout hut into a community bakery, subject to the Taits meeting environmental and health and safety rules.  

It said: “The proposed alterations would not detract from the nature of this heritage asset nor its setting in the heart of Watlington. 

“Its proposed use as a bakery would provide much-needed local employment and enable the very popular Orange Bakery to better meet the growing demands of the local population.”