A heartbroken cafe owner who put her Oldham business up for sale has opened up about why she is leaving.
In the eight years that Baytree Flowers and Coffeehouse has traded, Oldhamers have grown to love the brand - all thanks to its bubbly owner Emma Chadwick.
However, last summer the 42-year-old made the difficult decision to list her Chadderton-based store on the market with BusinessesForSale due to an ongoing battle with a chronic disease.
"It's broke my heart that I've had to put it up for sale, it's my everything, I love my shop," the Middleton mum said.
"But my health is just disrupting the business because I can't keep up, I physically can't do it."
Four years ago, Emma was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, which is an autoimmune disease - what it means is that her body's natural defence system cannot tell the difference between her own cells and foreign cells, which causes it to mistakenly attack normal cells.
To combat the disease, Emma has been put on a rituximab drip - which is affectively a cancer treatment and typically targets proteins on the surface of cancer cells but has been relieving Emma of a lot of her pain.
Despite this minor breakthrough, she admitted the Middleton Road shop, which is up for sale with the premises for £219,950, is still too much for her.
Emma said: "I've had a few people interested but mainly just for the property itself, but I don't want it to be turned into a HMO or anything like that.
"My coffee shop is a fantastic asset to the community, if it comes to it and someone wants the property I might have to just sell it, but this is not something I want to do.
"I've had the business for 16 years, it used to be on Oldham Road, just before Covid I got the opportunity to buy this place as my dad always said renting is dead money."
In 2019, she moved from her shop which was located on the same highway. Originally, Baytree started trading as a florist, but eight years in Emma decided to branch into the catering business.
She continued: "Shortly after buying the premises, I got diagnosed with this autoimmune disease and it's damaged my lungs.
"I've always been open about my treatment and everyone has been so supportive, my customers are so lovely and they are really understanding - I do feel really blessed.
"I would be lost without my mum and husband, I don't know where I'd be if it wasn't for them!"
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