The Early Bird Bakery

The Early Bird Bakery is a coffee shop and bakery on the historic high street of Kings Heath, in south Birmingham. Its pastry chef, Tim C, began his career in Birmingham, worked in pastry kitchens around the world, including Australia and Malaysia, and ran the pastry kitchens of five-star hotels in the UK. He moved back to Birmingham in January 2017 and sold his cakes and pastries at local food festivals. At that year’s Birmingham Coffee Festival he met Tim G, and the two founded the bakery with Joe, who has a background in business management.

Pastries, cakes and savouries are baked daily in-house, with local ingredients where possible, and brunch is served every day. Most of the seating is kept for walk-ins, with bookings taken for brunch only, and well-behaved dogs on a lead are welcome. The founders want the business to give people real opportunities to train and build careers in hospitality, and to make halal ingredients and vegetarian and vegan options part of the menu. A sister café, Perch, is in the city centre, and gift vouchers work at both.

The coffee comes from Hundred House Coffee.

Photograph: The Early Bird Bakery