Guisborough business offers to bake locals' Christmas cakes

Bakery owner Ed Hamilton-Trewhitt said energy prices were making Christmas cake baking prohibitive

A business has offered to bake the Christmas cakes of local people looking to save on energy costs.

Brickyard Bakery in Guisborough is not offering to make them, but to pop already prepared mixtures in its ovens.

With fruit cakes taking around four hours to bake, owner Ed Hamilton-Trewhitt said customers were worried about keeping the oven on that long.

The bakery has already opened up a room above the ovens in the shop for people to keep warm.

Mr Hamilton-Trewhitt said: "We've introduced something from medieval times - a community oven - where people can make a cake and put it in a tin but, instead of popping it in the oven at home, it gets baked in my bakery's ovens.

"This way it gives people the opportunity to add their secret ingredients and we'll take the expense of the cooking, as our ovens are on anyway."

He said the business had already collected and baked 10 cakes from the local area after hearing how customers, worried about rising energy bills, did not want to keep their ovens on for up to five hours.

In September, the business opened a warm room for people, worried about the cost of living, to spend a few hours during the week enjoying the heat from the ovens below.