Rising costs have left a Saxmundham bakery with no choice but to increase prices in order to ensure bills and staff can be paid.

Rebecca Cockett, owner of Mama Bears Cake Bar, said that it had been a difficult but unavoidable decision to ask customers to pay more for her treats.

She said: "Unfortunately the rising cost of everything seems to have hit my cake shop quite hard - things like butter and eggs have seen a significant rise.

East Anglian Daily Times: Mrs Cockett received the keys for the property last weekMrs Cockett received the keys for the property last week (Image: Archant)

"I have noticed over the last few months that our weekly wholesales orders are about a fifth more expensive.

"Along with the costs of running ovens and fridges and the recent loss of 'Click It Local' we have been left to make the difficult decision to increase our own prices by a few pennies."

The Click It Local scheme allowed people to buy from local independent or high street shops through one payment and get their items delivered the same or next day.

It received £60,000 from East Suffolk Council for a six-month pilot, but was stopped abruptly last week.

Deputy council leader Craig Rivett said of the ending: "At the end of last week, it came to the attention of our economic development team that Click It Local had concluded that its pre-existing delivery model was not financially sustainable as it functioned during the pandemic.

"We understand that, as a result, orders, deliveries and collections have been paused, and outstanding customer orders have been fully refunded.

"We have been informed that Click It Local hopes to continue to offer some form of online ordering and delivery for independent stores in the area."

Rebecca said that the ending of the service took hundreds of orders for Mama Bears Cake Bar with it.

East Anglian Daily Times: One of Rebecca's creations. The cake bar is set to open on July 10One of Rebecca's creations. The cake bar is set to open on July 10 (Image: Archant)

She added that the business had held off as long as she could physically afford, but that ultimately she was unprepared to sacrifice the quality of ingredients.

"As a new business that opened last July we have been so lucky to have received such overwhelming support - but with staff and bills to pay it's important that we keep our prices in line.

"But in happier news we have just purchased an ice cream machine and will be starting to serve ice cream desserts next weekend - assuming it doesn't snow."