A NEW bakery is set to open up in a former phone shop in York city centre.

Lotte the Baker has been a big hit at Spark:York and is now looking to expand its horizons opening Flori Bakery at 66 Walmgate, which was formerly York Phone Clinic.

Spark - the social space and street food hub made of 20-foot shipping containers in Piccadilly - was set up as a nursery space to provide start-up business development space for SMEs in the city centre and has already seen success stories such as Just Smile Designs, owned and run by illustrator Kerry Elstob, which moved to a shop space in Bootham last November.

At Spark Lotte the Baker runs as a small-batch, organic, Scandinavian-style bakery baking from scratch throughout the day from Wednesday - Sunday.

Lotte previously worked at Bageri Petrus in Stockholm, which is famous for its cinnamon buns and among the many tempting baked goods on offer at Spark were kanelbullar (cinnamon buns) and other Scandi small-batch cakes.

As The Press previously reported, Spark, which opened its doors in Piccadilly on May 4, 2018, is set to stay until 2022.

At that point the site would revert to City of York Council so it can be redeveloped as part of the Castle Gateway programme.

According to a City of York council report Spark has helped 40 start-ups - adding £500,00 to the city economy.

The report said that in the past 18 months, Spark has helped 12 businesses move into permanent shops or cafes - with 85 per cent taking premises in the city centre.

It says each business has taken on an average of three staff - bringing about 60 jobs to the local economy.