Queen of Desserts to visit Hucknall tonight

A touring dessert business will visit Hucknall for the first time tonight.

Natasha Tighe's Queen of Desserts business operates out of a mobile 23 foot bus, which is a former London Dial-a Ride bus and has been travelling around Ashfield selling sweet treats for the last four weeks.

All of the products are baked by Natasha and her family, with her 11-year-old daughter Mia doing a lot of the baking.

Speaking to Nub News, Ms Tighe, who lives in nearby Sutton-in-Ashfield, said: "My daughter's always been a baker she bakes with her Grandad a lot. She'll sit and bake cakes and she's only 11. We've had loads of complements about her baking. We started doing it together in lockdown.

"We came up with an idea, because obviously I wanted to support the children, it's not a great world out there at the minute so I wanted to make their life a bit easier. It's been in the pipeline for a while because she's ever so good. Because of lockdown it made it possible, usually I'm a working Mum so it's hard. With lockdown I was put out of work and obviously the government grants were very few and far between, we didn't know when we were getting them and I had to find a way to support them.

"I sat down and spoke to Mia, I told her about an idea that I'd had and she said yeah she'd love to (help)."

Such is Mia's talent, she has applied to appear on Channel Four's Junior Bake Off. Natasha cannot believe the positive response that the business has received so far.

"It's been crazy. Leamington estate in Sutton-in-Ashfield took three days, three days in Carsic, three days in Huthwaite, we've just been down to Annesley, that's taken us three days to get round.

"We've had so many reviews saying it's amazing, we've basically gone by word of mouth. I've had no end of people message me.

"We've obviously got masks as soon as you come on the bus, we've got hand sanitiser but people are so welcoming, positive and happy. We have queues that are massive. It's taken off. We're only a small team because it's family run. It's taken off more than we could ever imagine.

"We're covering Hucknall for the first time tonight obviously hoping for a good response because everywhere else we have been there has been a good response."

The success of the business has helped lift the spirits of Natasha and her family.

"I'm one of them that's always been busy and then when I dropped into lockdown it put me in a bit of a depressive mood, because I'm always on the go, I'm never sat still. I've always been a worker and then to have everything taken away from me like my job and doing things that I love; it was a nightmare. Then this gave us all hope."

The company offer a wide range of freshly baked goodies including skillet baked cookie dough, waffles, a Hong Kong style inspired Bubble Waffle and pretzels. As well as this there are a range of ice creams and milkshakes to choose from too.

Natasha attributes a lot of her success to the support and encouragement of her friends, family and work colleagues.

"I love my job, I work at Tattoo Temple in Sutton-in-Ashfield, it gets busy in there, and my boss has been so understanding, he's like take as much time as you need to put into this new business.

"I think the support from my boss and family members has helped so much."

For a list of the roads in Hucknall that the bus will be stopping on tonight, visit the business' Facebook page here .