A cafe in Oldham which is renowned for its homemade pies and cakes has rejoiced opening its doors again after being forced to close for weeks - and is enticing customers back with a series of deals.

Clean Plate Kitchen on Silver Street, opposite Spindles car park, has endured a rocky road of bad luck.

In 2021, the cafe owner, Collette Hall, told The Oldham Times that the Covid pandemic made Oldham a "ghost town" and described the footfall as "terrible" with the rise of people working from home.

She said she feared for the survival of the business.

But Clean Plate Kitchen managed to weather the storm - up until February this year that is when the cafe said it had become embroiled in a "running battle" with the roof.

Gas works outside the shop also dented footfall - and income - once again for 10 days.

In March, water was pouring in from the damaged roof and the shop became flooded.

In a series of posts on social media, it said repair after repair to the roof had failed to take hold.

The water damage was so severe that it damaged the electrics, jeopardised stock and even broke its pie warmer - and the cafe had to take time to put the finances in place to patch it up.

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It also said it was struggling to buy essentials from the shops, such as eggs and tomatoes.

"It's feeling like an uphill battle", one post read.

The issue persisted throughout March, during which staff sent apologies to customers for the "mayhem" and "severe leaks" which eventually forced the shop to close on March 13.

The post read: "Due to the current economic climate, we are already struggling to even break even with spiralling food and utility costs and decreased footfall and spending.

"Closing is an absolute disaster for us and we are only closed because we absolutely cannot open."

However, more than five weeks since it was forced to close, the cafe swung its doors back open to customers on Monday (April 17) with a repaired roof completed and a series of deals up for grabs.

The business said it was glad to be "back where we belong" and asked customers to vote for their favourite Clean Plate dish - which saw the cheese and onion pie take the crown - and ran a giveaway prize and five specials for £5 in line with its big reopening.

The cafe sells a plethora of its home-baked goodies and pies, some of which are provided by Joan Cartwright from the Old Mill House which was voted Oldham's best pie by our readers last month.

Clean Plate Kitchen added: "It's been an incredibly frustrating time and we are back to square one and need all of our amazing customers to know we are back open and need your help.

"Thank you to all our lovely customers for welcoming us back.

"We still need more people through the doors to stay viable."