New family bakery and cafe set to open this year in Daventry town centre

A husband and wife from Towcester recently signed the lease for the Grade II listed building in Sheaf Street formerly occupied by the Born and Bread Bakery.

Nicola Monk and her husband have been running the award-winning Ten Hands Cafe Bar in Towcester since July 2017 and have now taken on another business.

Northampton born and raised Nicola, 52, said: “It just feels like home when you go into the building; it's just meant to be, I think so. That's what made us decide. We just really loved it.

“It's an amazing building.”

Ten Hands Cafe Bar is a family-run business with a multi-award-winning cafe in Watling Street, Towcester. Nicola's family—the husband and wife and their three kids—inspired the business's name.

“I've always loved going out to eat, and we were in a position where a previous family business had been sold, and we bought our cafe premises as an investment property, but then decided after that that I'd quite like to run a cafe from there because it had been a cafe before,” said the owner.

The husband and wife have been running the cafe for seven years now and just recently celebrated their anniversary.

“We're very busy. We've got lots of regulars.

“It’s really good quality, affordable food for everybody. We're quite inclusive with our menu. (...) We sourced really good coffee for the place,” said Nicola.

The owners decided to expand their business in Daventry after discovering that the former tenants were looking for someone to take over the unit.

“We're going to introduce our menu, but it will be a smaller version, and we know what we're doing with coffee and cake. The bread side of things is going to be a challenge for us, but we're up for it,” said Nicola.

The Born and Bread Bakery owners, brother and sister Ali and Libby Keech, closed their Daventry business in June 2024.

Ali said: “Born and Bread Bakery has had a wonderful three years in Daventry, but it’s the right time for us to step away and hand over the oven gloves.

“It feels great to be passing the shop on to another unique independent business. We hope they achieve great things and continue to grow.”

Ali and Libby are still carrying on with business as usual at their Long Buckby bakery and cafe.

Nicola said: “We're doing a transitional period where we're learning as much as we can about the bread and the production of the bread.”

The husband and wife have applied for permission to repaint the front of the building and rebrand the unit.

Ten Hands Bake House Cafe in Daventry will be serving breakfast, brunch, lunch, and drinks, catering to everyone’s needs.

Nicola revealed that the cafe and bakery is scheduled to open in September 2024.

Ali said: “We believe they will be a brilliant fit for the space, and we can’t wait to see what they’ve got in store. These things don’t happen overnight, but they’re keen to get up and running as soon as possible.”