When Alan Joyce was offered the chance of redundancy from his high-flying job as a buyer with luxury car-maker Aston Martin, he jumped at the chance. He felt like a change, and that is what he got, because the biochemistry graduate is now flipping bacon from his own tricycle stall, Bebe’s Bacon Baps, at Oxford Railway Station.

It is only part of his growing business. On Saturdays and Sundays, when the commuters are at home, he takes his pedal-powered ice cream stall to Port Meadow.

He said: “The ice cream business is carbon-neutral and next year I’m planning to have solar panels on the basket and hatches.”

He had been doing his previous ‘stressful’ job for 12 years, and the redundancy money allowed him to clear the mortgage on his houseboat, with enough left over to buy two trikes from Pashley, of Stratford-upon-Avon. His opening gambit was to offer free ice creams to children who could bring a carrier bag full of rubbish from Port Meadow.

He aims to source organic homegrown produce — the ice creams are from Marshfield, near Bath, and the bacon from Evesham.

And he is passionate about reducing his environmental impact.

He said: “It’s all very well having the Kyoto agreement, but it's up to us to do something practical.

“My objectives are to be organic, good value, to give good customer service and to have fun. I also want to have a viable business by finding the right places to work. My aim is to get a few businesses going and bring other people on board by doing a profit-share, rather than employing them, because they are not going to be motivated by the minimum wage.

“It’s a bit like a franchise, but including business management. I’m really looking for a young couple looking to make a go of it.”

He is now looking at opening a branch of Bebe’s at Reading Station, and perhaps later expanding to Swindon or Bristol.

Mr Joyce added: “I don’t want it to be fantastically large. It’s about giving people an opportunity.”

At the moment, he spends weekday mornings at the railway station, finishing by 3pm, catches a few hours’ sleep — then starts serving at the Bridge nightclub in Hythe Bridge Street from 10pm to midnight. Weekends find him on Port Meadow.

He said: “I’m not sure how the nightclub will do. Once the Oxford site is fully functional, I’m looking to take someone on as my first profit-share. Once I’m in Reading, I’ll start hunting for more opportunities. In time, my role will be auditing the food hygiene and finances."

o Contact: Alan Joyce, 07909 696242