Bristol bagel baker Wesley Thompson is expanding his empire with the help of a £25,000 Start Up Loan from SWIG Finance. The Little Bagel Co’s first outpost in Queen Street, which opened two years ago in the university quarter, is set to be joined by a second branch aimed at city centre office workers.
Start Up Loans is part of the British Business Bank and offers personal loans of up to £25,000 and free mentoring to help anyone start or grow a new or early-stage business. SWIG Finance is the Bank’s Business Support Partner for the government-backed programme in the South West, and last year alone delivered £7 million in Start Up Loan funding to over 400 new and early-stage businesses.
Like many, The Little Bagel Co was born out of the pandemic. Wesley said: “I had a background in restaurant management and a sales job in a coffee roastery, but having my own place has always been a bit of a dream. When Covid happened, I decided to just go for it.”
The key was to find a way to liven up lunchtime with something different, delicious and reasonably priced. “I’d been to New York and loved freshly baked bagels – but there were none in Bristol. So, while everyone else was baking banana bread, I taught myself to make bagels,” added Wesley.
Bagels date back centuries and are especially associated with the European Jewish community. The Poles took them to the Big Apple at the turn of the 20th century, and they became a staple. A century later, the same thing is happening in Bristol.
“It turned out everyone wanted bagels – we ran out quite a lot in the early days,” laughs Wesley, who now turns out hundreds daily, using dough made fresh every morning from strong Canadian bread flour. These are fermented for 18 hours, boiled in bicarbonate of soda and malt syrup for flavour and colour, then baked in a pizza oven.
“A good bagel should be chewy enough to make your jaw ache, which is why so many traditional fillings are soft,” explains Wesley. “It’s not just a case of slamming anything between two pieces of bread.”
The Start Up Loan will go towards the costs of preparing the second store in Baldwin Street. Wesley added: “Because we’ve only been open for two years, traditional lenders aren’t really interested and would only offer us a two-year loan. Through Start Up Loans, SWIG offered us five years, which enables us to spread things out a bit; and with no early repayment penalty, so if everything is successful, we can pay it off early. That was exactly what we wanted. It feels like SWIG has our welfare at heart.”
Start Up Loans officer Suzy Lowe at SWIG Finance “was fantastic, very tenacious – she clearly cared,” says Wesley.
Suzy adds: “I loved what Wesley was doing – his authentic product, progressive ideas and focus on quality. He’s meeting a huge demand in a central Bristol location, serving students, shoppers and office workers alike. Now he has recognised an opportunity to replicate his brand in a new location, building on the reputation he has come to enjoy. I wish him the best of luck.”
For more information please visit littlebagelco.co.uk and www.swigfinance.co.uk.
Main image: Little Bagel Co’s Wesley Thompson with SWIG’s Suzy Lowe by Jon Craig Photos.
