Baker forced to stop selling leftover cakes after being issued £795 council ultimatum

A baker has been forced to abandon her plans to sell leftover cakes from a roadside honesty box after discovering she would need to pay nearly £800 for a council licence.

Steph Goodhand, who runs a coffee trailer business, had intended to use a cake shed on her driveway to offload extra bakes left over from private functions she caters approximately once monthly.

After learning that another cake shed operator in a separate council area faced a potential £1,000 penalty, the 34-year-old contacted East Riding of Yorkshire Council and was informed that a street trading licence would be necessary.

According to the council, a licence becomes mandatory when an individual "is operating on a business footing".

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The authority specified that certain activities would trigger this requirement.

These included advertising products on social media platforms, accepting card payments, or deliberately producing items for sale.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council's website lists a seasonal permit lasting six months at £440, whilst those seeking year-round authorisation must pay £795.

Ms Goodhand does not currently possess a street trading licence as her trailer business operates exclusively at private events rather than public locations.

The licensing fees represent an insurmountable barrier for modest enterprises, according to Goodhand, who described the cost as "100 per cent prohibitive for small businesses".

She said: "There's absolutely no way it's going to be financially viable to get a street trading licence just to sell cake out of it probably once a month."

The baker expressed disappointment at having invested in a cake shed she can no longer use, noting that profit margins on baked goods are slimmer than many assume.

She explained: "Ingredients are so expensive now - chocolate, eggs, butter... everything is so expensive."

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Ms Goodhand also questioned the apparent inconsistency in how different honesty box products are regulated.

She told the BBC: "That apparently is okay but cake is not? It doesn't make sense," referring to eggs and vegetables sold through similar arrangements.

Another Goole-based business, Brilliant Brownies, announced on social media in May that they too would cease operating their driveway honesty cake shed following notification from the council about licensing requirements.

Ms Goodhand raised concerns about inadequate communication between different council departments.

She noted that she had obtained food hygiene approval without any mention of the possibility that a separate trading licence might also be required.

She said: "So many people have started doing these cake sheds thinking this is great with nothing to pay.

"I don't know why these two areas of the council don't communicate with each other either."

The council has encouraged anyone contemplating establishing a cake shed to seek guidance from both its licensing and food services teams beforehand.

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