Born and 'bread' Reading woman opens BRAND-NEW bakery in Caversham

A woman who has lived in Caversham all her life has recently embarked on an exciting new venture much to the delight of everyone in her neighbourhood.

Jo Deacon, 37, decided to open up her very own bakery in Caversham which will also act as a workshop space.

Once the bakery is up and running it will situated at 47 Church Street, in between House of Cards and Superdrug.

"We are hopefully looking to open at the start of August but we don't have a set date yet," Mrs Deacon said.

"It's going really well. It's a big refit at the moment but everything is going to plan. We've pulled down walls and everything."

Mrs Deacon described her new bakery as having a downstairs section solely concerned with selling her own baked goods. These will include some delicious custom cakes, tarts, pastries, and much more.

This will also act as a café where locals can purchase takeaway coffees and other hot drinks.

"People will also be able to collect their cakes from the online shop," Mrs Deacon said.

The upstairs part of the building will be used as a baking school and will host everything from children's birthday parties to adult bakery qualifications.

It will be decked out with a fully functioning prep kitchen.

"It's going to be a bakery academy," Mrs Deacon said. "I also want it to be like a community space. We will be doing all different types of things for ages and abilities."

Mrs Deacon started baking as a hobby 16 years ago whilst she was working as a primary school teacher.

"The love of baking took over so I went on to do professional cake decorating courses and then qualified as a pastry chef at Reading College ," she said.

Mrs Deacon then decided that she wanted to leave teaching completely and start up a home bakery business in 2018, which has seen booming success for the past six years.

"Opening up my own bakery has always been the dream, my personal ambition. I have always wanted to have my own unit. It was great when I took on the lease a few months ago," Mrs Deacon said.

"We've got a great team which is all coming together. My operational manager is like my righthand girl who's called Candi.

"I've also just taken on my first trainee who's name is Zoe. We've grown the team quite rapidly."