Lifetime’s ambition fulfilled

DESPITE running a successful electrical contracting business, Paul Thompson harboured a nagging desire. It had steadfastly refused to go away since the day when, aged 19, he reluctantly accepted his parents’ advice to complete his electrician’s apprenticeship rather than follow his own youthful instincts.

Now, however, in a previously-neglected corner of Ossett can be seen the impressive evidence of Paul’s wish finally being granted: the Bakers Shop and Café Vie, an upmarket establishment which would look perfectly at home on an elegant street in Harrogate.

Strictly speaking, the young Paul’s ambition was to open a sandwich shop, although succeeding years and wife Lisa’s influence meant the scope of their collective desire eventually crystallised into something much more substantive.

Their plan came to initial fruition last summer – although it was to be another year before the full project was complete – after two at first unrelated factors combined to provide the opportunity they were waiting for.

The first was a former public house, on New Street, coming on to the market after several years as a derelict eyesore and a focus for anti-social behaviour.

Paul said: “We took the opportunity to buy the premises as a base for the electrical business, but because of the size of the building and the car park, it made me start thinking we could do more with it – and my mind went back to my old sandwich shop ambitions.”

Lisa added: “To start with, we weren’t sure exactly what to do. We thought about a pie shop, for example, but then Paul got talking to an old school friend, Phil Wright, and he said ‘why don’t you bake your own?’.”

Paul continued: “We looked at the building plans, realised we could do that, and that’s what started the ball rolling. In fact there was space for three units, so that’s when we decided to add a café as well.”

The stylish interior design of the shop and café is entirely down to Lisa, who clearly has a talent for such things, although it remained unexploited during her 16 years working in a bank.

She said: “It was something I’d always been interested in, though I’d never actually put any of it into practice. Then I went on maternity leave and decided to take a career break.”

This was the second factor which helped get the Bakers Shop and Café Vie off the ground, as it meant Lisa could devote all her spare time to the project, something she enjoyed so much she decided not to go back to her old job. It’s a decision which was probably a wise one given it was made shortly before the banking system went into meltdown. “The way things have gone at banks since then, with all the redundancies, it looks like I definitely got out at the right time.” she said.

There’s no disputing that the results of Lisa’s designs – not least the café with its recently-opened first floor orangery incorporating full-width doors opening on to a balcony – are, with all respect to Ossett’s other cafés, a cut above anything previously seen in the town.

This was the couple’s intention from the word “go”, as was the decision to bake everything (except the Potters pork pies, that is) on the premises.

And at the centre of operations in the bakery, turning out a tempting range of breads, pastries, pies and pasties, cakes and buns, is Paul’s mate Phil, which only seems fair since it was his chance remark while the two worked out in a gym which set the train in motion.

Paul added: “We definitely wanted it to be somewhere that would bring people into Ossett as well as for locals. When we started off, the town centre had hit rock bottom, there’s no doubt about that, and if we could do something to help bring it back up then that’s what we wanted.”

It seems to be working too, for Lisa’s informal market research – otherwise known as chatting to customers – suggests they’re making journeys from Wakefield, Dewsbury and farther afield, then coming back later with their friends.

The name Café Vie is a clever play on words, for there’s more to it than allusions to the French concept of the good life and sunny sojourns at pavement cafés. “Our daughter’s name is Evie and the name incorporates that,” said Lisa.

The Bakers Shop and Café Vie, New Street, Ossett, 01924 270010.