For those who missed it, last week a bakery in Yorkshire went viral after its owner clapped back at a request to provide more than 100 cakes for free to a Mancunian celebrity.
Yorkshire baker Rebecca Severs received the request from a PR company, who said they were working for a ‘well-known’ local celebrity who was about to celebrate their 40th birthday.
The publicist said that payment ‘would be made in the form of promotion on their socials with over 700k followers, as well as OK Magazine’, adding: ‘they will be crediting all the suppliers on this platform.’
The message continued: “The party has a guest lists full of celebrities, and industry people from tv / film and music, so loads of work would come from it.
“NVRLAND would also use you for our future events and parties.”
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However, Rebecca, who has been running her Three Little Birds Bakery in Keighley for seven years, turned the offer down.
She has since been praised for her snappy reply, which told the publicist they ‘do have availability for your date’, before adding: “I’m so sorry to hear that your client has fallen on such hard times they can’t afford to pay small businesses for their products.”
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Image: Catherine Tyldesley
Image: Three Little Birds Bakery
That celebrity was later revealed to be none other than ex-Coronation Street star Catherine Tyldesley, who then took to her own personal Instagram to defend her publicist’s request – saying: “I mean, I hope the cake lady got the exposure she was craving.”
The bakery has since revealed that it has been inundated with ‘vile’ abuse after going viral, sharing messages in which a person called the owner an ‘entitled millennial’ and told her she ‘deserve[s] to go bankrupt.’
Taking to Facebook to share another update to the ongoing drama, first branded cake gate by Tyldesley in an exasperated video filmed from her car, the bakery joked: “Sounds like someone might need some cake. Even if it is Keighley cake.”
They then shared a series of screen shots of some of the abusive messages the business had received, in which one person tells them they are really ‘thick AF’ before asking: “You think you can go public about a legitimate business offer that you don’t like the sound of, and now play victim?”
The message thread continued with a series of laughing crying faces, before the person added: “You deserve to go bankrupt. Entitled millennial. You’ll learn the hard way.”
Further screenshots showed messages in which the baker was told they were ‘Simple MFs’ who are “so out of your depth it’s f*cking hilarious.”
The individual also shared a link to a BBC article covering the story entitled ‘Ex-Coronation Street star and baker in social media cake row” within the abusive message thread.
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Still, despite the keyboard warrior aggression coming from one loyal Coronation Street fan for the most part it appears that people are once again on the side of Three Little Birds bakery, with fans quick to comment their support on a post that has been liked over 1,500 times.
One person commented: “I don’t know what to say … er well I hope Angry Man gets the attention he’s craving! Oh hang on, that sounds familiar. I love Keighley cake especially yours.”
Another fan said: “Why do people think it’s appropriate to speak to others like this behind a screen? Your response was perfect. You have been dignified and professional. Everyone in keighley supports you and your beautiful business and family.”
A third added: “You deserve all that follows” maybe they meant all your new followers you definitely deserve them.”
Featured image – Three Little Birds Bakery
News
Coronation Street and Emmerdale set for special crossover episode
Danny Jones
Two of Britain’s most legendary TV shows are set to collide as Coronation Street and Emmerdale prepare for an unforgettable crossover.
It’s the sort of thing we’ve imagined plenty of times before, but if we’re being honest, we never actually thought it would come to fruition.
For the first time ever, the iconic Northern soaps will be teaming up to release a special crossover episode early next year.
Coronationdale? Emmerdale Street? All we know is we’re excited.
Announced on Tuesday, 13 May, ITV confirmed that work on the first-ever Coronation Street and Emmerdale collaboration is now underway.
The flagship serial franchises both have huge nationwide followings in their own right, attracting more than 8 million viewers every week.
Moreover, with both Manc’s much-loved Corrie and its Yorkshire counterpart having faced financial struggles of late,
Writing in an official joint press release, the two shows revealed they will “join forces in an unprecedented, one-off special episode to launch the broadcaster’s new power hour of soap, which begins on ITV1 and STV in January 2026.”
The ‘power hour’ is part of the channel’s plans to readjust its approach to its regular programming laid out earlier this year, with this serving as an eye-catching way to promote the new schedule.
Put it this way, provided the keep the crossovers up North and avoid you know where, this is the kind of thing we can get behind…
Corrie characters reacting to the mere thought of heading to London 🤝 Manc parents whenever one of their kids mentions leaving 0161. 😂
The statement goes on to read: “The distinctive worlds of Emmerdale and Coronation Street will merge for one night only in a ‘mash-up’ of our two favourite communities.”
ITV believe they have come up with an “ingenious way of linking the two universes” before having them return to Greater Manchester and the Dales, respectively.
The episode will be a self-contained one-off special but one that sees them cannonically grounded in the same entertainment world forever and, you never know, if the idea is a hit then it could be the first of many to come.
As if that wasn’t enough, to make the prospect even more interesting, the producers are inviting members on the audience to choose which two characters they would like to meet and interact in the scene – keep your eyes peeled on their social media for more information.
Coming in January 2026 (specific release date yet to be confirmed), this is not one you want to miss.
We’re also glad to see the pair of long-standing soaps and institutions of British telly have got off to a strong start this year, raking in 124 million streams on ITVX with each episode now available on the streaming platform ahead of th
The reason behind the ‘mini Manc tornado’ that blew through Ancoats this month
Danny Jones
If you saw footage of a ‘mini tornado’ ripping through Manchester online this past weekend, no, your eyes weren’t deceiving you: it did happen and, turns out, it’s a pretty strange and rare phenomenon– at least in this part of the world.
They say 0161 has everything but a beach, and now we seemingly have little twisters of our own, they might just have a point.
In all seriousness, footage went viral on social media, being met with equal surprise and alarm as most were understandably confused at how this could even happen in the UK, given our climate isn’t typically used to these kinds of weather events.
For those of you who haven’t seen it already, here’s what it looked like…
Did you see the mini Manc tornado that passed through Ancoats last weekend? 🌪️
We’ll admit that when first heard a so-called tornado had been spotted in Manchester, we pictured a little spiral of leaves and crisps packets in a supermarket car park, but as you can see, it really was much more significant than that.
Reported as having towered as high as 30 metres along Great Ancoats Street, various people saw the startling city centre sight and quickly began querying what the hell they were seeing online.
Despite many dubbing it a tornado, we can confirm it was something slightly different.
What caused the ‘Manchester tornado’?
What you’re looking at is what is colloquially known as a ‘dust devil’; put simply, these are small, rotating columns of air that pick up dust and debris from the ground and obviously resemble a tornado at times, especially when they manage to become as wide and tall as this one did.
As explained by the Met Office, “A dust devil forms due to irregularities caused by temperature contrasts on different surfaces, which then causes rotation of the air and, when there’s dust and debris, you can get these columns of air.”
Here’s another angle:
WATCH: MASSIVE Dust Devil in Manchester, England yesterday!#tornado
We don’t need to tell you that it’s been pretty warm of late (bloody gorgeous, in fact) and, as a result, the chances of creating a proper dust devil are much greater than usual.
The Met Office went on to add: “Unlike tornadoes, dust devils grow upwards from the ground, rather than down from clouds. In the stronger dust devils, a cumulus cloud can be seen at the top of the rising column of warm air.
“They only last a few minutes because cool air is sucked into the base of the rising vortex, cooling the ground and cutting off its heat supply.”
It’s not the only strange meteorological event seen around Greater Manchester recently, either. From the likes of ‘supercell thunderstorm’ and the eerily silent ‘heat lightning’ in late 2023, to the UFO-like swirl seen across various parts of the globe earlier this year.
Georgina Pellant -
7th August 2023 
you definitely deserve them.” 
