Lancaster’s bustling Charter Market can be found in the city centre in Market Square, Market Street and Cheapside.

Enjoy the hustle and bustle of a traditional outdoor market and the aromas of freshly cooked food as you meander through more than 40 stalls selling a wide selection, from local produce to international cuisine, fresh fruit and vegetables to plants and flowers, jewellery and clothing to arts and crafts.

The market is open every Wednesday and Saturday 9am to 4pm.

In the coming weeks, Visit Lancaster is shining the spotlight on some of the brilliant independent businesses in our Lancashire region.

This time, it’s The Sweet Escape! The Sweet Escape offers cakes and sweet-treats from a stall at the Charter Market.

The team also bakes personalised orders to suit every occasion and can be found at food events up and down the country!

We spoke with owner Erin Gosling and here’s what she has to share.

How would you describe The Sweet Escape in a line or two?
The Sweet Escape is a local bakery specialising in handmade cupcakes, traybakes and birthday cakes designed to brighten up your day while not costing the earth.

What was the inspiration for starting The Sweet Escape?
From wanting my own business from an early age I was encouraged to take the plunge by a colleague at my old job, who said ‘now while you’re young is the time to give it a go, what’ve you got to lose’. And from then I’ve never looked back, I quit my job and dived in at the deep end using my friends and family as guinea pigs for my new inventions.

What was The Sweet Escape like in the early days?
So exciting and surreal that I was living my dream, being able to chat to people all day long about cake. We started off very small at local events where things went incredibly well, so we quickly enquired about a pitch at Lancaster market and were fortunate enough to be able to join the market family within a month of getting going. We’ve had a few hiccups along the way but the business began to grow with a loyal group of customers spreading the word far and wide (even as far as Canada).

How has The Sweet Escape evolved over the years?
We are still very much in the early stages of this business since only opening our gazebo 2 years ago and we have lots planned yet but it has still been a massive learning curve, we started with a handful of traybakes and we now regularly bake over 80 different types of traybakes and 30 different types of cupcakes to always tempt your taste buds with something new. During lockdown when the market was unable to open we branched out into treat boxes for home deliveries. This has proved to be very successful and rewarding and we continue to deliver goodies all around the area every Tuesday and Friday. The mega treat boxes for special occasions (Easter, Christmas, Mother’s day, etc) have proved very popular, providing me with literally sleepless nights all in the name of cake.

What are you excited about in the months and years ahead?
ICE-CREAM! With summer only round the corner we will be bringing our own ice-cream to Lancaster Market. Further down the line, I’m hoping to be able to bring some more people on board to help me share the love of cake further afield to bigger events and possibly even postal boxes. For now we are loving our time trading at Lancaster market and lots of other local food festivals and generally enjoying supplying sweet treats to our wonderful customers.