Copyright scotsman
Imagine Doctor Who, except with rocky roads and cinnamon buns. That’s - well, sort of - what Edinburgh's brilliant cake shop, The Pastry Section will soon be offering. They’ve taken over a purple police box on Drumsheugh Gardens, and will be regaling the west end of the Capital with a selection of their utterly gorgeous goodies. We imagine that those nearby will find it quite easy to exterminate a treat a day. We asked the owner, Lesley Stewart, to tell us more about her business and her plans. Tell us a bit about your journey up to now, and what's business like at the moment? Since opening The Pastry Section in our first location of Stockbridge in 2017 we have had an amazing journey with lots of ups and downs. From making the decision to leave my nursing career to follow my dream to open a cake shop, to where I am now, I'm so proud of what I have achieved. With no hospitality contacts or experience of running a business and very little financial backing I have built the business literally from the ground up. From working alone to being able to employ a team has been a real achievement and we’ve seen the business evolve over the years. We survived Covid due to my inability to sit still and we found inventive ways that would allow us to safely trade. Following that time I realised that we had outgrown our tiny kitchen space in the back room of the Raeburn Place shop when the Leith location on Great Junction Street became available. The corner site, big windows and high ceilings, and the proximity to my home made the decision for us to relocate the production kitchen to this site an easy one. Leith has been open since August 2022. It has been a real challenging time for me personally and for the business. It has been relentless and at the start of this year I was very unsure of where the business was going . However I never gave up. We had some tough conversations, made necessary changes, put our heads down, grafted, and we are now coming out this end of the year stronger, focused and ready for some new challenges. Why did you take on the police box? I had always loved the former police boxes dotted around Edinburgh and having one always appealed to me. To be honest I saw the box was available and I went for it. It is in a new location for us with a lot going for it. Both our shops have very limited seating so we know that a large proportion of our sales come from takeaway purchases, hence the box would work. I'm also always looking at the business in five year cycles and the box was the perfect addition to our other two sites at this time. What do you hope to do to upgrade it - will it remain purple - and what’s been in there before? The space needs some love and attention. A full upgrade will be taking place to ensure we make the most of the space, the team will be comfortable and it matches the aesthetic of our other locations. We will be painting it the blue shade that is so recognisable of our brand. The vision is that the police box will resemble one of our cake boxes. The previous owners were The Strawberry Box, who specialised in chocolate covered strawberries and before them it was a coffee spot, Constable Coffee. What goodies do you hope to have on sale there, when you open? We will be sending a variety of treats. Some will be firm favourites that will appear everyday, such as our cinnamon buns and the rest of the display will change daily as with our other locations. We have been developing some of our products to allow us to still offer some of our more multilayered treats with easy portioning and packaging and also developing some new items that we believe will work well in this location. What are the limits to operating in a small space like that? Or is it really like the Tardis? The unpredictable Scottish weather is the only limit I foresee, with clever design and planning, my hope is this wee space does great things. What are your usual bestsellers in the two established bakeries? Carrot cake, cinnamon buns, layer cakes, honeymoon slice, rocky road, meringue tarts, ever changing biscuits and nanaimo bars. Who are the main customers in the Drumsheugh part of town? That's what we are excited to find out. I gather tourists will form a large proportion as the box is located outside a new hotel and has close proximity to the west end and Dean Village. Local residents and those who work in nearby offices who support local businesses and I'm sure a few diehard Pastry Section fans will pop by. What is the opening date? The box needs to be renovated so when that's complete we are good to go. Fingers crossed that will be before the end of the year. Do you hope to eventually open a third full sized premises in Edinburgh? We have no plans to go to three. However we have had some exciting projects come our way and we would really like to have a new space that has more seating. When everything is aligned, we can hope for something new. www.thepastrysection.com Read more: “The gorgeous East Lothian bakery that’s opening in time for autumn” Read more: “The talented artist who inspired by Scotland’s best bakeries and cafes” Read more: “The best bakeries to visit for delectable sweet treats to fuel your Edinburgh Festival”
