Mold: Big Brother winner's energy bill for bakery goes up by 400%

Luke Anderson, 41, won the Channel 5 series in 2012. He now runs a bakery, Cravin', with wife Jamie-Lee, 33, which opened in the summer of 2021 in Mold.

Dad-of-two Luke anticipated bills doubling or tripling - but they have increased by 400 per cent. He said bills are due to go from £400 to £1,600 a month, and the cost of ingredients such as butter has doubled.

He said the new price is more than the rent of the shop.

Despite this he has decreased the price of hot drinks to £1, and is happy to be able to give people a warm space to socialise.

Luke and Jamie-Lee Anderson opened their shop last summer. (Image: Newsquest)

Luke said: "It is just shocking. We knew they would be going up. We thought it was a typo - it is more than the shop rent.

"All over the high street there are shops that are closing. It's a really scary time. We don't know if it's going to get any better especially with all the shenanigans in Number 10.

"We've dropped our prices to £1 for hot drinks. We just want to help people and give them somewhere to sit and be warm."

READ MORE: Cravin Bakery, Mold, celebrates one year

He continued: "A bill like that can sink a small business. I feel like we're living in the Dark Ages, we need a Robin Hood to swoop in and help people. People are going to be on the streets, there will be no small businesses.

"The cost of butter and flour has doubled so we had to put our prices up, but our brownies are a lot bigger than you get in Starbucks or Costa. We are thinking 'do we even plan for next year with the shop'.

"This bill is before the government capped it, but how long is it going to be capped for. We shut at 3pm now and are thinking about shutting an extra day."

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