A cake shop in Oxford's Covered Market is due to open for the last time before moving to Witney.

Over the years, The Cake Shop has become a favourite with visitors to the market who love to take photos of its specially designed cakes - and buy them.

But bosses said the location was no longer the best place for them to sell their cakes and added that traffic restrictions were making it difficult for them to operate.

READ MORE: New reservoir embankment trial gets the go-ahead 

It is leaving the city at the end of today's trading after 38 years.

A spokesman for The Cake Shop said last month: "We are relocating to a larger, bright new space at 3 Mill Walk in the vibrant town of Witney with an enhanced bakery offering.

Oxford Mail: Working at The Cake Shop"Our new location will have free parking outside our front door, is easily accessible from Oxford, and will have an expanded range of fresh artisan breads, pastries and bespoke cakes available daily."

READ MORE: Traders dispute new data on visitors 

The Heritage Bakery, featuring a bakery and a cake shop will open at the Witney shop unit at 11.30am on Saturday, May 18.

Bosses at The Cake Shop said they had experienced "problems with access, challenges around the zero emission zone, excessive structural issues, and high levels of rent relative to footfall".

Oxford Mail: A cake at The Cake ShopThe city council are the market landlords and in recent years have committed to spending millions of pounds upgrading the market.

Footfall in the market is up, and £6.8m is being spent on improved entrances, larger seating areas inside, and a new seating area outside in Market Street.

The 'pedestrianisation' of Market Street outside the market entrance, where new seating has been installed, has now been completed.

Help support trusted local news 

Sign up for a digital subscription now: oxfordmail.co.uk/subscribe 

As a digital subscriber you will get:      

  •       
  • Unlimited access to the Oxford Mail website   
  •       
  • Advert-light access       
  •       
  • Reader rewards       
  •       
  • Full access to our app 

About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

You can also read his weekly Traffic and Transport newsletter.