The owner of a fast-growing bakery chain operating across Norfolk and Suffolk has opened its biggest site to date in an upmarket tourist town.
Two Magpies said it wanted to push the boundaries as it opened a new 2,600sq ft bakery, café and restaurant in the former Bakers & Larners department store building on Holt high street.
The split space in the two-storey building includes a café downstairs and an informal 80-cover dining space upstairs.
The business — owned by Rebecca Bishop and Steve Magnall — started out in Southwold and expanded into Aldeburgh and Darsham on the A12.
It then expanded into Norfolk with a Norwich outlet. The Holt site opening follows hot on the heels of the launch of a bakery in Blakeney in Norfolk in May. It takes the total number of sites across the two counties to six.
The latest launch in what’s described as one of England’s prettiest Georgian towns pushes its traditional bakery cafe format into new territory, said Mr Magnall.
“This new site is our biggest by far and promises to push our traditional café boundaries into more of a dining space,” he said.
“We’ve been waiting to try something new and it is because of our strong team and fantastic management structure that we’ve been able to consider expanding the business even further in such a short space of time.”
The new development has been overseen by general manager Yasmin Wyatt.
“This is a very exciting new opening and we’ve worked hard over the last couple of months to turn the former premises from a shop into a café and restaurant which we hope will appeal to both existing and new customers,” she said.
“We have a team of around 35 to 40 staff at peak to manage the volume across both floors and with an opening date smack bang in the summer holidays we are hoping to have a very busy few months ahead.”
Two Magpies Bakery Holt is open seven days a week with the top floor restaurant set to open later in September.
It serves a range of baked goods including sourdough breads, hand-laminated sweet and savoury pastries, as well as classic cakes and bakes.
The upstairs restaurant will offer a full hot food service with pizzas from a wood-fired pizza oven, shared platters and local meats.
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