'Dream come true' as young baker Imogen secures shop in Newport

Imogen, who won a contract to bake 22,000 cookies for the Polar Express at the Telford Steam Railway last Christmas, said she was 'lost for words' after securing the premises. She is now working hard to renovate the shop in St Mary's Street.

She said: "I am so excited because the dream has always been to open a shop in Newport but you obviously have to take steps before setting up a shop.

“I just got really lucky one day. I was driving in the town and saw an advertisement in the window, and it all went from there.

"I wasn't actively looking but it was always the plan for it to be the next stage of my business and I thought it was a perfect location.

"I still can’t quite believe it because, as I say, I have dreamt about this moment for years.

"I am just really excited and the renovations are now fully under way, with the hope of being ready for September."

Imogen added: "I want to introduce a whole range of new cakes, moving forward, including fresh cream cakes and cheesecake and things like that – new products I can experiment with.

"I have got a free rein to be able to know what days I am open and think about what I am baking each day, changing it up, keeping it exciting and different for customers.

"Once it's open, it will be really important to understand what people want too. I do a lot of pop-up stalls so I can get that idea of what the customers like."

"Having the shop will also provide an opportunity for people to pick up their bespoke orders from there, because at the minute I am delivering here, there and everywhere. It will be nice to have a base."

Imogen, who grew up in Newport, said baking had always been a passion but she started to take things seriously during the pandemic, while studying at the University of Warwick.

"It's all happened very quickly," she said. "I set it up during lockdown, literally from my mum and dad's home in 2020.

"I was at university doing education studies to become a primary school teacher and was writing my dissertation in my third year.

"But I have always baked with family and friends and I just needed a distraction during that time. I baked my mum a birthday cake and posted a picture on Facebook."

"I started to get messages from people asking if I could make them one.

"That's how it started – by me posting that cake on my Facebook page. I set up Immi's Cakes and Bakes on Instagram as well and it's gone really well.

"If it wasn't for lockdown, I would have gone into my teaching. I did graduate and have my degree to fall back on but I finished university and went into this full-time."