New bakery business on the rise

Mr Johns, 55, has taken over a former hairdressers shop in the Little Brittox, Devizes, to create The Little Bakehouse and is enjoying every minute despite the long hours as he returns to a line of work that runs in the family.

When he was 13 he used to crack eggs and sweep up in the family bakery in Devon and later trained in Exeter but when the recession struck in the 1990s the business did not survive so he joined Avon and Somerset police.

He said: "I was 42 when I joined so I was much older than most of the other recruits so I came in for a few jokes but it had its benefits as well as often when I went out with more experienced officers people would talk to me as they assumed I was in charge."

He retired from the force last year and used the money he got to set up his dream business in Devizes. Mr Johns, who lives in Melksham, said: "I looked around at a few places including Marlborough and Bradford on Avon but when I found this place it just felt right. It is a bit like going back to the beginning when my grandfather first set up a small shop."

He has a trademark bushy moustache which he has used as part of his business logo.

He makes a wide range of breads and cakes but patisserie is his first love. His wife Deborah helps with the administration and his children and step daughter helped set things up but most of the time he is on his own.

This means he has to arrive just after 4am to get the bread underway and stays late to start preparing pastry for the next day. He said: "I will eventually have to take someone else on to do the serving but at the moment it is just me.

"People have been incredibly welcoming and really friendly. Lots of people have just popped in to say hello and wish me luck. Everything is flying off the shelves. It is very difficult for me to keep up which is wonderful.

"At the moment I am trying out quite a few different ideas to see what people like best."

The original family bakery was started by his grandfather in Somerset in 2015.