“We’ve been supported by Ballymore every step of the way”

If you’re passing through our Goodluck Hope development in London, you may smell the unmistakable smell of freshly baked bread courtesy of our newest tenants, Layers Bakery. The brainchild of professional chefs Faye Weatherburn and Giulia Agnoli, and entrepreneur Chelsea Finch, a formidable trio who have created a wholesome place for the community to enjoy their exquisite, baked on site, collection of baked goods. Here we chat to Faye, straight off the back of an incredibly successful launch weekend.

It’s been quite a week! Since our opening we’ve been completely overwhelmed. It’s been busier than we could have hoped for! On our opening day, I was literally in the back preparing croissants on a loop - everything we put out went, and we just kept replacing it as quickly as possible! It’s been a long time coming - myself and Giuila worked together a few years ago and the seed was planted to create our own bakery when the company we both worked for shut down. 

Community Spirit 

In what now seems like a perfect order of events, Chelsea, who was one of our customers, approached us, asking when we were going to set up - and that she would support us by continuing to use us to supply her five businesses. She has been integral in supporting our entire operation, providing us with valuable expertise in setting up the coffee shop side of our business, something integral to our vision of bringing the local community together. We both feel quite strongly that as a coffee shop we have a fundamental duty to the community to provide a lovely place for them to socialise, and that’s what Layers has become. 

Even before we opened we popped a sign on the door inviting passersby to pop in and have a chat so we could get to know the locals, that was really nice and we had many visitors who have now become customers, it’s very much the relaxed and friendly vibe we wanted. 

The finer details 

Working with Ballymore has been nothing but positive, we’ve been supported by them every step of the way. We were fully involved with every design decision in our space, down to where the plug sockets were placed, it really was tailor made to suit our business. We both have experience of working in specialised kitchens - Guila at Dinner by Heston and Fallow, and me as a Pastry Chef at the Ritz so we know how important it is to have the right setup. 

Being in this location is incredible, we love the heritage, and the dry dock, it’s such a characterful space and the huge windows and industrial ceiling in our bakery fit perfectly with the vibe of our terracotta and coral terrazzo. Originally we’d planned something much smaller so this has exceeded all expectations, but as soon as we saw it we knew it was for us; we visited every week as it was being built so we feel like we’ve been integral to its fruition. 

Mission led 

A huge motivator for us was to responsibly get rid of waste having been horrified at the amount of waste we’d previously experienced. We now make marmite out of leftover bread and carefully tailor our menu around what we have available to minimise any leftovers. We are also passionate about sourcing premium produce from local suppliers. Our flour comes from our regenerative farmer, Wildfarmed Flour, and all our dairy products come from The Estate Dairy who also provide us with pastry butter which we used to have to get from France. Everything we sell is baked on site by our own fair hands - Guilia is on the night shift at the moment so it’s a 24 hour operation! 

All in all, it’s been an amazing first week, we can’t wait to evolve and welcome more visitors as we continue to develop our offerings, we’re excited about what’s to come. 

To keep up to date with Layers, follow them on Instagram.