Bakery suddenly closes Bristol cafe after just ten months of trading

A bakery has shut its Bristol shop and cafe after just ten months of trading, citing ‘high costs’ as one reason for closing.

Portuguese bakery Nata & Co opened its store on Queens Road in August 2022 in the old Patisserie Valerie.

It was the first Bristol site for the business, which was founded in Cardiff in 2012 by Filipe Brito. His previous experience was working in the family business in Portugal.

The Bristol store sold a range of Portuguese bakery favourites including the the famous Pastel de Nata - a Portuguese egg tart pastry dusted with cinnamon.

Since launching in Cardiff, where it has two shops, Nata & Co also opened one in Bath in 2020. These stores remain open.

A sign posted on the window of the now closed Bristol store thanks customers for their support and also hints that Nata & Co may yet make a return to the city at some point.

A spokesperson for Nata & Co said: “Due to the living crisis we are all in at the moment, unfortunately we had no choice but to close the shop due to the high costs.“You can still visit our stores in Cardiff and Bath. We will still be very happy to welcome you again and we might try trading in Bristol again in the future.

“Nata & Co would like to thank all customers for the support during our time in Bristol and we will see you soon.”

At the time of opening, owner Filipe Brito said: “I decided to open a branch in Bristol because we had lots of requests from our customers who where travelling from Bristol to Cardiff to buy our products. I think Bristol is a vibrant city and full of life.”

The closure of Nata & Co is the latest business to leave Queens Road. Last year, chicken restaurant Backyard closed suddenly and remains empty, as does the site of Mexican restaurant Wahaca, which closed in the summer of 2020.

Earlier this year, both Paperchase and Vinegar Hill closed their stores on Queens Road.