{"id":18535,"date":"2021-09-22T09:33:08","date_gmt":"2021-09-22T09:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/?p=18535"},"modified":"2021-09-22T09:33:08","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T09:33:08","slug":"let-them-eat-cake-elizabeths-cake-shop-belmont-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/let-them-eat-cake-elizabeths-cake-shop-belmont-road\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Let them eat cake\u2019 – Elizabeth\u2019s Cake Shop \u2013 Belmont Road"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Marie Antoinette allegedly said those famous last words, little did she know that for the people of East Belfast, life was a piece of cake \u2013 with a lovely little home bakery in the midst of a busy, thriving route of independent retailers.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth\u2019s Cake Shop on Belfast\u2019s Belmont Road is just one of the many independent retailers on the Belmont Road \u2013 an important artery into the city centre.<\/p>\n

Owner Stephen Brown talked to NR about his business \u2013 the early starts and long hours of the home bakery owner.<\/p>\n

\u201cElizabeth\u2019s has been on its present site for the last 9 years\u201d said Stephen. \u201cI\u2019ve been the owner for all that time \u2013 but as a name, it has been established for the last 50 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe former site was at Ballyhackamore – where I worked for 20 years. When the previous owner was retiring I bought it over from him \u2013 so for the last 11 of in Ballyhackamore I was the owner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sold it after 11 years and then took a sabbatical for 3 yrs. from baking to explore different opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Refreshed after the break, Stephen decided it was the right time to go bake in to the bakery business.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What\u2019s in a name?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe new owners in Ballyhackamore had changed the name \u2013 so it was Elizabeth\u2019s Cake Shop no more. There was a bakery on this present site on the Belmont Road and the owner was selling up, so I bought it and changed the name to Elizabeth\u2019s Cake shop as name was available again\u201d explained Stephen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been a baker for nearly 40 years, working in a few different bakeries to gain experience along the way. Elizabeth\u2019s is on a great site – Belmont road has a wide variety of shops and cafes, three local schools with passing trade and a great loyal customer base.<\/p>\n

New customers<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the recent lockdowns of 2020-2021 we were extremely busy as people preferred to shop local as opposed to long queues at supermarkets (bread lines were particularly busy). Thankfully, we have been able to hold on to some of those new customers. Parking is the biggest issue we face.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSausage rolls are a big favourite at Elizabeth\u2019s especially at tea-break time with many businesses putting in orders for special occasions. However, I don\u2019t do any cakes or occasion cakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cSweet and savoury would be 50\/50,\u201d Stephen told NR. \u201cFresh cream pastries are popular but also good old Ulster standards such as soda farls, potato farls and pancakes always sell well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Something special<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cElizabeth\u2019s cake shop is special because of the quality of all the products and the service we provide<\/p>\n

especially to the older customer who we might be there only point of contact in that day.<\/p>\n

A job well done<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI do all the baking on site beginning at 4 o\u2019clock in the morning. All the houses nearby rise to the smell of freshly baked bread (very hard to resist)!<\/p>\n

\u201cTo pack the shelves in the morning and stand back and look at what you have produced is where I get my job satisfaction to then sell it all is a bonus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Marie Antoinette allegedly said those famous last words, little did she know that for the people of East Belfast, life was a piece of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":18536,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,182,2,12,5],"tags":[1755,1754],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/marie-curie-fundraising.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18535"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18535"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18540,"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18535\/revisions\/18540"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}