Clydebank woman set to open baked goods store this weekend

Sarah Nicholson transformed an empty unit on Kelso Street in Yoker into Pretty Baked, a baked goods business that will officially open on Saturday, March 23, at 12pm.

The front counter at Pretty Baked (Image: Newsquest staff)The 27-year-old told the Post she first started making cakes around two years ago after her beloved dad David died from sepsis.

Sarah said: “I had been working on my mental health for a long time and this hobby was helping me through, making the days a bit easier to cope with.

“My dad passed away in April 2022. It was sudden, he died of sepsis which happened overnight and it was one of the biggest shocks of my life.

“I didn’t want to fall back into having bad mental health to the point where I couldn’t do anything, he wouldn’t have wanted me to be like that.

“I’ve used these past couple of years to try and build up my confidence and to develop my skills by baking for family and friends.

“When I lost my dad it gave me a push and I thought ‘I need to sort my life out and do something’.

"I’m trying to turn the grief from my dad’s passing into something positive and make him proud of me.”

Sarah explained that she started with just cupcakes and eventually progressed to making themed birthday cakes for her friends’ little ones which she says she was inspired to do after watching videos on Tik Tok.

The 27-year-old will offer a variety of tray bakes, cookies, and cupcakes at Pretty Baked’s front counter each day but added that she hopes to experiment with other creations too.

Opening her own business was a nerve-wracking journey but Sarah says she is proud of herself for overcoming some of her initial anxiety.

She said: “I didn’t feel confident enough in myself to be able to take this any further until now.

"The anxiety I feel putting everything into this and going self-employed is massive but you only live once and the worst thing that could happen is that it doesn’t work and at least I tried.

“Baking is something that I had fallen away from then went back to when I was feeling a bit down. I feel like I’m a completely different person now than I was.

“Especially with losing my dad it just gave me that boost where I was like ‘right, life is too short and I need to do something'.

“There were a lot of times where the anxiety was taking over and I was thinking I shouldn’t do it in case something goes wrong but this store came up and it’s where my dad grew up so I wondered if it was a sign.

“My boyfriend and mum told me to just go for it, they’d support me. When my dad was here I wasn’t really baking or doing anything like this so he never saw any of my cakes which makes me a bit sad but I’m a great believer that he is looking down and is proud.

“My friends say all the time they can’t believe where I am now from where I was two/three years ago.

“I’m proud of myself.”