AN ARTISAN bakery is opening a second branch in less than a year on the site of three historic bakeries.

The Flour Pot Bakery is preparing to launch at 124 Elm Grove following the success of its Sydney Street branch.

The new site is in a busy residential area, near a school with no nearby bakery.

It is thought the site has been home to three bakeries over the years – but was more recently a brothel.

Experienced chef and bar manager Oliver Hyde started Flour Pot in his spare time, supplying a handful of croissants to friend Brad Jacobsen’s burgeoning business Small Batch Coffee.

As Small Batch grew to five shops, so has Flour Pot, supplying a range of cakes, pasties and sandwiches to the company – as well as its own branch and other wholesale clients.

The Elm Grove site, due to open in less than two weeks, has been designed by Mr Hyde’s wife Jasmine in contemporary dark grey with benches, lights and stylish reclaimed copper. As well as some inside seating, there will 12 to 18 chairs in an outside terrace and the two branches will be supplied by a production kitchen in Knoll Business Centre, Hove.

He said: “We’ve got a good suspicion that the community really wants something like this. The reaction has been really positive “We want to do more than just really good bread and coffee. We want to create a meeting point for the community, before the school drop-off or after. We want parents, workers, students.

“It can be a bit of a ghost town up here at lunchtime so we want to give people a reason to come up the hill.”

Originally from New Zealand and a Brighton resident of 20 years, he cut his teeth in hospitality as a chef at Terre à Terre.

He managed The Escape Club, later Audio, and has run several Drink In Brighton venues, latterly The Mesmerist.

He is behind business Juniper Catering and was also the first to bring new-wave Mexican street food to Brighton with Bang Bang Burrito, with a plan to turn the Jubilee Street site into a Flour Pot Bakery hole-in-the-wall, while taking the Mexican food on the festival circuit.

The Elm Grove site will be managed by Lauren Currie with organic milk from Goodwood Home Farm, organic flour from Shipton Mill, in Ashurst and coffee from Small Batch.

He said he hoped the opening would bring some real quality to the area.

He added: “There are still people that see Brighton as London-by-sea, and think you can just throw money at something and reap the rewards, but that just doesn’t happen.

“I’m tired of streets being littered with corner shops and convenience stores.

“Businesses should make a positive contribution.”