By Noah Roberts
A new pottery café has opened in Fulneck – and one of its owners made it a double delivery when she gave birth to a baby daughter during its opening week.
Oh Hello Pottery Cafe opened to the public last week. And within less than two hours the studio was a hive of activity, with local residents, families, grandparents and dog walkers painting pottery or relaxing with a drink and a slice of cake.
The business has been developed by two female entrepreneurs Emily Wilby, 29, and Brogan Townsley-Parker, 23.
Emily, who is originally from Birmingham, had been working in a pottery studio before Covid lockdown. She said: “During lockdown I was furloughed and this gave me time to think about what I wanted to do next. I decided to use the skills I had learned and create my own pottery studio.”
Emily thought Pudsey was a great location. She put a call out for a local baker and many residents recommend Brogan, of Pudsey-based B’s Cakes and Bakes. Brogan came to Emily’s studio with some samples of her signature brownies – and that’s when the two women connected.
Brogan started her own bakery business from home during Covid lockdown. She said: “My business had expanded so quickly I was taking over more more of my mum’s workspace with my baking.”
Following the sad passing of the previous owner of ‘No 54 Fulneck’ café the two women acted quickly to rent the property and expand their partnership and create a business together.
“We got straight in touch with the landlord who was a great help to us. We have worked hard and poured all our savings into creating what we have today,” Emily added.
The business partners had no choice but to act quickly because Emily was heavily pregnant, and they wanted the business up and running before she gave birth. Family and friends rallied in a real team effort to transform the building into their vision of a combined pottery studio and café.
Emily recently attracted attention on social media with a short video she shared on Instagram.
She said she thought it a good idea to share her journey online because: “It is so easy for people to go to chain shop café and forget that small businesses like ours have real local people behind them.
“Now I have my own business I like to work with other ones like mine and wouldn’t use a chain as much. We found a great coffee supplier Dark Woods of Huddersfield. We wanted to cater for vegan and gluten free diets. So we reached out just before our opening to baker Danielle of Little Dumplings. She responded straight away and helped us out by providing cakes for our launch.”
The successful launch last Wednesday also happened to be Emily’s one-year anniversary of her engagement to Tom Booth and with Emily only a few days away from giving birth she joked that she may go into labour during the launch.
Emily has a real passion for painting and creating pottery with lots of bespoke ornaments, cups and ceramics adoring the walls of the studio. She said: “I like most crafting but for me there is nothing better than making something that you can take home with you and use yourself.
“My home is filled with pottery. Many of customers make pottery as a gift, or for a special occasion, birthdays, weddings. We have groups workshops for friends, hen do’s, baby showers. I had my own baby shower here in the studio.”
Two-hour pottery painting sessions can be pre-booked via the website.
Friendly staff like Sarah Holmes are on hand and happy to explain instructions and demonstrations. Painters can create their own unique personalised keepsakes, cups, plates, ornaments. And buy unique painted pottery gifts for themselves and their loved ones.
A happy customer and local resident said he was pleased that it had reopened as a café as it had been closed for quite a while. He said: “It has been improved, while the essence of the place is still here”.
Local resident Bev Gelder – née Mitchell – attended the lauch, she was sat in the sun outside, eating a large slice of handmade apple and Blackberry cake. Bev was a previous resident of no 54 as a child.
She told WLD: “The houses are known as upside down houses and so what was my bedroom is now part of the studio and café.”
Bev said that the building attached to Oh Hello Studio and Café coincidentally used to be occupied by potter Molly Hillam, whose pottery can be found in the Fulneck Museum which is only a few feet away from the café.
Bev has fond memories of her mother, Olive Mitchell, who also ran a café at no 54 and was pleased to see it reopen. “While it was empty I missed being able to walk down and have a coffee,” she added. Bev said it has always been a hotspot for locals and had donated her old photographs of the building to the Emily and Brogan. They can be seen on display in the entrance of the café.
Building on the successful launch the ambitious entrepreneurs have ideas to continue to expand their food offering and create a larger studio in the future.
Meanwhile Emily will be taking a break to care for her daughter who, as she predicted, was born on Sunday, 4 August during their opening week.
Emily and Brogan wanted to thank everybody for their help.
“We are so grateful to everyone who has helped make the launch happen, Brogan’s uncle a retired painter and decorator and Aaron Wilson whose been an amazing resident handyman. We expected to wait longer for the flooring but was really pleased and surprised when Springfield carpets helped us out by fitting the flooring so quickly and they’ve done a great job.”
Heritage days in Fulneck
The studio and café is located within a grade two listed building located at the Fulneck Moravian settlement in Pudsey.
The historic settlement overlooks a picturesque valley, it attracts local dog walkers and historians. Fulneck Moravian Chapel is an architecturally significant building in Leeds the grade I building was completed in 1748. The chapel features in BBC TV show Gentleman Jack.
You can learn more about about the history and culture of the Fulneck settlement at the annual heritage open day on Saturday, 14 September from 10.30am to 4pm.