Oswestry celebrated the opening of another impressive town centre food business as a luxury patisserie opened its doors for the first time this weekend.

On Saturday, September 18, the town's Niche Patisserie opened the doors at the former Black Gate pub for the first time - with a queue of customers and well wishers forming outside well before a grand official opening by town mayor Cllr Mark Jones.

The business is run by Adam Cleal, a semi-finalist in the 2019 series of Channel 4’s ‘Bake Off: The Professionals’, along with his mother Samantha Cleal and Mike Clarke-Booth and having started in alternative premises on the outskirts of the town in May 2020, completed its move into the iconic 400-year-old building on Salop Road.

"As a family business that started with humble beginnings in the family kitchen at the beginning of Lockdown 2020 and grew organically within 18 months, we are now ready to fully launch and bring back to life The Black Gate building," said a spokesperson.

"The Black Gate on Salop Road is such a beautiful building and it will be wonderful for the team at Niche Patisserie to breathe new life into such a historical and well-known landmark."

One side of the building features the bakery with produce available to buy, as well as tea and coffee, whhile the other side is dedicated as a luxurious lounge where visitors can watch on as Adam create his beautiful works of art from the bakery studio.

Niche Patisserie was started by the family in May 2020, and operated a delivery and collection service during the Covid-19 pandemic, offering luxury croissants, breads and patisseries, and serving more than 1,200 residential customers and 15 commercial customers.

Earlier this year, the business ran a successful crowdfunding campaign to help finance the move into the Black Gate.

"We’re putting ourselves into what is a fantastic, Grade II-listed building which is approaching 400-years-old," Samantha Cleal told the Oswestry Advertizer in July.

"We want to be a destination for people to come and experience the afternoon tea, so people come not only to enjoy the food, but to visit this historic building and put it back on the map."