A baker will be opening her second shop in the same street this weekend.

Best friends Louise Malone and Claire Dalley will be opening Princess of Bakes in Canterbury Street, Gillingham.

Louise has been baking since she was six and opened her tea rooms, The Queen of Bakes, across the road in August 2021.

The 41-year-old said: “I went to catering college. I had kids and then went into retail but then I decided to set up my own catering company around five years ago.

“I had about 9,000 customers and then I decided to open the tea rooms, which has been really successful.”

The tea rooms won New Business of the Year at this year’s Kent Women in Business Awards.

Her bakes are also sold at The Royal Engineers cafe in Gillingham.

Now, as well as the tea room, Louise has decided to open a bakery with her best friend of 30 years and will be offering pre-packed luxury sandwiches, milkshakes, homemade scones and homemade sausage rolls.

She said: “It’s a funny story actually. Someone was parked in my parking space and they were doing work on JJ’s Furniture which is where the new shop now is.

“He jokingly asked if I was interested and it kind of went from there.”

They will be opening on Saturday, May 6 from 7.30am.

She said: “’I’m hoping that the new shop will help improve Gillingham High Sreet and the surrounding area. It’s gone downhill so I want to help bring some life back to it.”