Published at 08:29, Friday, 03 August 2012

After they finish their A-levels most school leavers have plans to go to university, or head off on a gap year. But Hannah Coleman had other ideas.

Hannah Coleman

The 19-year-old, who attended William Howard School, has bought her own business in Brampton.

Hannah abandoned plans to become a vet and took over La Cucina, on High Cross Street, which she has converted to an English tea room called The Enchanted Teapot.

She said: “I chose not to go to university, primarily because I wasn’t ready and I didn’t see the point.”

She instead got a job at a leisure park near Penrith but found she did not enjoy working there.

Many people who knew her though suggested she found a way to make a living from her passion for baking.

A friend of her mother suggested she take over the cafe and helped her get the deposit for the business together.

Hannah dipped into savings bonds her grandmother had set up for her and took charge in May.

She has found the job to be a shock to the system.

“I knew it would be really hard physical work,” she said. “I don’t think I realised there would be so many to do lists in my head.”

Hannah has a long history of working with food.

“There’s a photograph of me aged two cutting lemons with my grandma, so it’s been since
then,” she said.

From this humble beginning she went on to pursue baking as a hobby, often taking over the family kitchen in the process.

Then when she went into the sixth form she showed an early entrepreneurial streak.

A friend asked her to bake an 18th birthday cake and insisted on paying her for it.

After that, Hannah regularly produced goods which she sold to schoolmates.

She now produces all of the food sold in her cafe – savoury and sweet – and only buys in raw ingredients and drinks.

“In the back of my mind I always wanted a tea room,” she said.

While she enjoys the work, Hannah also admitted there are some down sides. Often she cannot head out with friends in the evening or at weekends because of work commitments.

She has also found some suppliers and other business owners haven’t taken her seriously because of her age.

Her brother Dan, 17, and mum Claire, 41, also help out in the shop.

“It is very strange having to ask your daughter what to do,” said Claire, who added that she was extremely proud of her daughter. The family live at Jocks Hill Way in Brampton with dad Andy, 48.

Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk