Ex-Coronation Street star and baker in social media cake row

Actress Catherine Tyldesley has called the whole affair 'bizarre'

A baker who refused to cater a TV star's 40th birthday in exchange for publicity said she was defending small businesses.

Three Little Birds Bakery claimed a PR firm asked if it would make two cakes, plus cupcakes, for ex-Coronation Street actress Catherine Tyldesley for free.

After screengrabs were shared online, the exchange went viral with NVRLND PR claiming it was "misconstrued".

The BBC has contacted the PR firm for comment.

The initial email to Rebecca Severs, owner of Keighley's Three Little Birds Bakery, asked her to make the cakes with "social media exposure" and mentions in OK! magazine as payment instead of cash.

Ms Severs replied, pointing out that her mortgage and staff wages could not be paid in "Instagram likes" so she would be "declining the generous offer".

Rebecca Severs says requests for free goods are quite common

After posting the exchange "for a bit of fun", it went viral and the baker believed this was because being asked for freebies "touched a nerve" with small businesses across the world.

She told BBC Radio Leeds: "A lot of industries like mine are not valued enough for the skill and time that goes into our products.

"It's not just the time it takes to make a cake, it's the 20-odd years of experience and skill you've spent to get to that point.

"It's a real challenge to price your own worth when it's your own thing, it's really personal."

She added: "Customers pay for knowledge and skill."

Leeds-based NVRLND PR, who Rebecca claimed has since threatened her with legal action, denied asking for free cakes and said it would never expect a collaborating business to be "out of pocket".

Founder Victoria Eames said: "NVRLND contacted Three Little Birds Bakery to offer them the opportunity to collaborate with one of our clients to cater for a party.

"As part of the collaboration, our client would cover all of Three Little Birds Bakery's expenses and costs in exchange for social media content and local and national exposure for their business."

Ms Tyldesley has claimed she had "no idea" the emails were sent and called the situation "bizarre".

In an Instagram clip posted on Wednesday, the mother-of-two said that NVRLAND were an "amazing company" and had been "completely misrepresented in this matter".

"Don't really know what to say.

"I mean I hope the cake lady got the exposure she was craving", she added.

Ms Tydelsey's husband, photographer Tom Pitfield, 36, also denied any knowledge of the emails.

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