A WINCHESTER cake shop is set to re-open following a refurbishment.

Patisserie Valerie, in High Street, briefly closed its doors at the end June whilst work was carried out.

It will now have a soft re-opening on Friday, July 14 at noon before opening its doors for good on Saturday, July 15.

Branch manager Tom Godwin said: “So we’ve had a new coat of paint, we’ve had new equipment added in. We are tapping into our history, Patisserie Valerie. We have new paintings which focus on the history of Ester and Theo, who are our founders, and we’re going back to our roots, essentially.”

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Tom told the Chronicle that the shop is changing to becoming a “counter-plus store”, focusing on selling the cakes and sweet treats the shop is known for.

He continued: “We’re going to what the business calls a ‘Counter-plus’ store. So we used to serve things like breakfast, eggs royale, eggs benedict – we’re now moving away from that. We’re focusing on our heritage of being a patisserie instead of being a restaurant.

“And we’re going to do takeaway sandwiches – obviously you can come in and sit and have a sandwich with us – but takeaway baguettes and things like that. We’re moving away from our full kitchen into what we call a counter store. So, the new equipment allows us to do that.

“Obviously we want people to come on down and explore the history with us, and enjoy our lovely food”.