'People travel from London for my vanilla slices'

Imogen Kelly, 26, opened Immi's Cakes and Bakes in Newport almost two years ago

A Shropshire bakery has taken a town and social media by storm with its sell-out vanilla slices.

Immi's Cakes and Bakes, in Newport, regularly has empty shelves within minutes of opening, after a video posted by owner Imogen Kelly attracted more than four million views.

In the video, the 26-year-old fixed a wedding cake that another baker had put pins in. Since then, her baking content has helped her sweet treat sales soar, with some customers, she said, taking a four-hour journey from London to try her vanilla slices.

Ms Kelly opened the shop almost two years ago after she had trained to be a primary school teacher, but decided to change career paths during lockdown.

"I was writing my dissertation, doing exams at home, but I was a bit bored so I started baking, set up a little Instagram account and I began getting orders."

Ms Kelly said her success "all started from social media" and she continued to post daily.

"We have such a positive response online, we get a massive amount of support with people liking, commenting and sharing [my content].

"People love to see what we're up to all the time, not just baking, but personal life too, I do show my time off as people are really interested in that too," she added.

The 26-year-old said her content also connected with those who live in her town.

"People really do stick behind us. To have grown up in Newport and have a shop here, it was always a dream, so it's really nice to share that with them."

Ms Kelly said her record for selling more than 100 vanilla slices was 24 minutes

Her signature bake, a vanilla custard slice, consists of a homemade custard cream filling sandwiched between pastry, with jam at the bottom and fondant icing on the top.

Ms Kelly said her record time to sell more than 100 slices was 24 minutes.

"It's just craziness, I don't know what's going on with them," the 26-year-old said.

Sam Bradley is a Newport resident and said it was important to support local businesses

Debbie Buttery, from Shifnal, said she had been the "designated driver" on Thursday.

"I'm buying eight, we [her family] take it in turns to visit the shop, one of us comes every week."

Sam Bradley, who lives in Newport with his wife and children, he said he regularly enjoyed one of Imogen's treats.

"We've seen so many shops in this area come and go, so you have to support local," he added.