Bristol woman with rare hormone condition to open café

Hannah Egerton has GHD and has had to take injections

A new café run by a young female entrepreneur with a rare hormone condition is set to open.

Hannah Egerton, 23, who has been running a wholesale bakery business for two years, is now opening Edgie Eats Cake Shop & Café in Westbury Park, Bristol.

Ms Egerton plans to hire 10 people across the bakery and café.

She said as a young woman in business she had faced many obstacles, including people taking advantage of her.

Ms Egerton has Growth Hormone Deficiency (GHD), a hormone deficiency that meant she stopped growing at the age of seven, and developed serious health issues.

It's the same condition that footballer Lionel Messi was diagnosed with aged 11.

'You can achieve anything'

"It took a few years of tests to work out what was wrong - and some long stays in hospital - but since the age of 11 I've been giving myself daily injections of growth hormone, which saved my life," she said.

"I will need to continue to do this every day of my life, but it's manageable and actually could be a lot worse, so I'm grateful for my good health at the moment."

Ms Egerton makes her own cakes for the cafe

Ms Egerton started baking in 2019 while she was studying Biomedical Science in her first year at Bath University.

She enjoyed making treats for friends and set up an Instagram account to share pictures and recipes.

Ms Egerton graduated in July 2022 and decided to defer a place to study a masters in paramedic medicine, so that should could give her baking business a go full-time.

She said: "I loved studying biomedical science and really thought I was destined to be a paramedic, but I am very proud that I had the confidence to take a chance on my baking business dream.

"It's evolved again with the opening of the café, I couldn't have imagined I would be here already and I would encourage people to put more belief in themselves.

"It's scary but if you want it badly enough and you are happy to work hard, you really can achieve anything."

Ms Egerton used a vacant property grant from Bristol City Council to secure and transform the old plant shop in Westbury Park into a fully working commercial kitchen.

She also won a further grant from the South Western Enterprise Fund which enabled her to kit out the shop and cafe ready to open on 30 March.

The shop will be open seven days a week

Ms Egerton said: "I keep pinching myself every time I come into the shop to make sure it's all really true."

Despite her current happiness, she says there have been times where she felt "overwhelmed" by the process of managing a business.

She said: "As a young female in business I did find some aspects quite daunting; trying to find a property to set-up in for example.

"I'm a switched on, intelligent person but I'll admit it was intimidating walking into some of those meetings."

'Underestimated'

She added that she took her partner with her to viewings as she thought she "would be taken more seriously with a man in my corner".

"There have been situations where others have tried to take advantage of me and my business or have underestimated me due to my age and sex.

"I have been left thinking 'you absolutely would not being doing this if I was a man or 20 years older'."