Our Story — Stella & The Bakery Cafe Heywood Since 2005
A small, traditional cafe on Manchester Street, opposite the East Lancashire Railway. Stella runs it day to day — the same counter, the same straight answers when you ring.
Stella has run The Bakery Cafe at 118 Manchester Street, Heywood since 2005. Before that it was Ernill’s premises; she took the business on and kept the tie to the bakery in Bury. Anything from the bakery side — pies, loaves, cakes, pasties — is still baked at Ernill’s Bakery in Bury and brought over fresh. We stock it, slice it, heat it and serve it from the same glass counter customers have used for years.
The shop sits opposite the East Lancashire Railway (ELR), so you get heritage-train visitors, people parking on the surrounding streets, and regulars who’ve made breakfast here part of their week. It’s not a themed cafe — it’s a working lunch and breakfast room with wooden tables, a bit of clutter that tells you someone lives in the place, and a phone that rings when someone wants to know if we’ve still got meat and potato or cheese and onion.
Mornings are bacon, bread and coffee on the go. Stella opens before the busy spell, sets the tables, and works through the same jobs she’s always had on this street. It’s a traditional cafe: local food where we can get it, plain-sized plates, and no fuss. A lot of people who come in she knows by name, including how they take their tea.
If you want to know what’s on the counter today, ring Stella on 07484 066777 and she’ll say what’s in — no obligation, and she’ll be honest if we’ve sold out of something.