Lil’s Parlour

Posted On March 24, 2023

Lucy Scott

Listen to our Breaking Bread Birmingham food podcast episode with baker Lucy Scott. Creator of the brilliant pay-as-you-can community interest bakery Lil’s Parlour. Press play on the player above. Alternatively, listen on your favourite podcast app, just select from the list on this LINK

Welcome to Lucy Scott Lil’s Parlour

Hello & a warm welcome back to the Birmingham food podcast breaking bread. Co-hosted by food-obsessed mates Liam & Carl, Breaking Bread gives you long-form interviews & discussions with the incredible people that make Brums food scene so unique. On this week’s episode, we have Lucy, owner of Lil’s Parlor, a pay-as-you-can community-interest bakery in Northfield. Lucy shares her incredible story of transitioning from a normal business into a community interest bakery and how Lil’s Parlour has gone from strength to strength since.

Welcome to Lil’s Parlor, a pay-as-you-can, community-interest, pay-as-you-can bakery in Northfield, Birmingham. On the latest episode of the Birmingham Food Podcast, we had the pleasure of speaking with Lucy, owner of Lil’s Parlor, to hear her incredible story of how she transitioned from running a normal business to opening a pay-as-you-can bakery and how her business has gone from strength-to-strength since. 

Lucy told us she was feeling unwell and ended up in the hospital. It was at that moment she realised that things had to change and she had to step out of the box she was in and do what she wanted. She decided to open a pay-as-you-can bakery, where customers can come and pay what they can afford for what they left with. Lucy said that she loves the joy and connection that comes from sharing food and that the business side of it just wasn’t for her. 

We also learned about the anonymous app that makes it possible for customers to pay what they can afford without anyone having to see the transaction. We found out why Lucy chose to open a pay-as-you-can bakery instead of a traditional

Lil’s Parlour YouTube Full Episode

Lil’s Parlour Full Podcast Transcription

Lils Parlour final

Lucy: I know some people get really pumped by the transaction. I don’t, yeah. To me, the transaction is somebody enjoying it, somebody biting into it and having a little, you know, when you get the goosebumps, when you eat something really good it, for me, it’s about the joy of the connection of people and food and sharing food.

Liam: Hello everyone. Welcome back to the Birmingham Food Podcast that is breaking bread I’m your co-host. Liam, my other co-host is carl,

Carl: oh, was I supposed to say something? I was waiting for a second. You do normally burst in, so I was kind of leaving you space. I know I’m Carl.

Carl: I was giving a [00:01:00] little bit of your room,

Carl: but if anyone doesn’t know I’m Carl.

Carl: Hello.

Liam: That was Carl.

Liam: He does wanna be here honest.

Carl: I know. I was checking the time

Liam: how are things?

Carl: Yeah. buzzing Man, it’s good. Back in the flow now we’re back in the flow. Yeah. Yeah.

Liam: Hope you all loved the first episode with chef MK from Raja Monkey.

Carl: Yeah, go and try it, man. Seriously, go and try it.

Liam: Yeah class. Where have you been eating man?

Carl: I’ve been to a few places recently I went eat Vietnam. Look I go to eat Vietnam a lot anyway, but the last time I went was just, it was a different level. it had gone up another notch and I didn’t think there were any notches left.

Liam: You ordered the whole menu didn’t you as well?

Carl: Well, we went with two people and they were big eaters like us, and

Liam: no offence I’m sure.

Carl: Yeah, no, they’ll admit that. That’s not a problem. And we just, I just like pretty much ordered one of everything.

Liam: What was the standout?

Carl: The pork bellies are always one of my favourite things there.

Liam: they just do pork really well.

Liam: I had the Early Bird collab with the pork from Eat Vietnam and that was unreal as well.

Carl: Yeah. But obviously, you’ve got the Marmite. peanut butter wings, which is always one of my favourite things. Even the coli, they’re that good. Even the cauliflower ones are good. Cause we had a, we had a bit of both and just everything. Absolutely everything.

Liam: They just smash, man. They’re so good.

Carl: It’s one of them places. If I ate the napkin, I’m sure it would taste nice. like, I’m adamant.

Liam: Imagine that. It’s like edible napkins.

Carl: Yeah, that’d be good right there.

Carl: Where else have I been? There’ve been a few places. Passing Fancies. I was there the other night.

Liam: Yeah. How’s Tommy getting on? Love Tommy.

Carl: You know what? It’s good. They’ve just got in the cocktail list the first year, so that’s good for them. Yeah. Not a good space. Good. Yeah. Not even open for a year. And they’ve made, like the top 50 places for a drink.

Liam: How’s that work? Someone has to nominate them. or summat, isn’t it?

Carl: Yeah. I think you have to have nominations and then they try someone from the company tries all of them and then rates and, I don’t know, how it works too much, but some big achievement.

Liam: Yeah,, they’re that modest. They probably play it down as well

Liam: but they’re fantastic.

Carl: It’s a very original place. Yeah. If you get sat at the counter as well, just, it’s perfect.

Liam: I went to church on a Sunday.

Carl: Yeah, you did man. You did. It looked [00:03:00] awesome.

Liam: No, no mass though. I just went for Sunday dinner. It was banging.

Carl: Yeah, the food, there’s good, your roasts look absolutely phenomenal.

Liam: They’re getting a bit of a name for themselves, for roast dinners, I think. Like it was quite busy there and, they said that we’d just missed a rush cuz I went a bit later cause I wanted to have a few drinks around town and stuff. Mate, pork belly is incredible.

Liam: oh the starter pork terrine. It was like layers, like black pudding pork, like, oh yeah,

Carl: that looked good. I wanna know more about this. Lamb, scotch egg.

Liam: Yeah, lamb scotch egg was banging as well,

Carl: you know, it never occurred to me that you could do it with lamb.

Liam: No. Spicy lamb is kind of around the outside. It was lovely. Yeah.

Carl: Oh man. We hadn’t had dinner yet. Come on.

Liam: I know. I’m starving. But yeah. And then obviously roast dinner was just massive. What you want really on a Sunday? bang it all in vegetables was unbelievable. The meat was perfect. Yeah, look good. Loved the church man. Glad to see it is busy now as well.

Carl: Yeah, it’s one, it’s one of them places that deserve to be good. Yeah. And the people like, obviously it’s the people behind Tiger bites pig and like the massive list of [00:04:00] places they’ve got now.

Liam: It’s funny cuz even the, you know, chatting to people at work and then they’re not like massive foodies, but some of them are like, some of the older boys were, oh, you know, the church years ago you couldn’t get in. It was packed. If it’s, if it’s the same owners, I said, well it’s kind of the same owners but it’s the same chef. Oh, we’ll have to go back there for a look. Do you know?

Carl: Well it’s one of them, man. Like the Guinness is good. That’s a good start for me. As long as the Guinness is good, food. good, Guinness. Good. Nice pub. I literally, I’ve got no other request.

Liam: It’s not the lamp. Good though, is it?

Carl: Nah, it’s not. It’s nowhere near the lamp.

Liam: Have, have you even mentioned the lamp on the podcast?

Carl: I dunno if we have, you know, like, cuz this is like people are going off about it now, about this Guinness, but we’ve been like, we were going like 20 years ago old we, yeah, over 20 years ago we were going there and it looks the same. It’s the same people. , the Guinness is the same. It’s just the best Guinness you can get in this country

Liam: that’s funny ’cause it’s like a secret society that everyone knows about, but nobody talks about. [00:05:00] Yeah. You know, you put a picture up of it and everyone messages you. saying. . How’s, Eddie? How’sthe lamp it’s brilliant.

Carl: But then you meet someone that like, oh, I love Guinness. And you’re like, have you been the lamp? And they’re like, no. I’m like, you need to fucking go. Yeah,

Liam: yeah, yeah. gotta, ah,

Carl: it’s, it’s one of the places where you’re drinking the Guinness, it feels like a different drink.

Carl: Like it’s that good. You’re like, I can’t believe. It’s like no one’s taking this, this seriously and putting this amount of effort in. Cause it’s, it’s phenomenal. It’s cash only by the way. So if you do go, there’s no cash point near buy. so bring your cash.

Liam: Don’t ask us how you get there. It’s in the middle of nowhere in Digbeth

Carl: basically like if you are at the white swan, And come out the front door and just go straight for about 10 minutes. You’ll bump into it sort of,

Liam: kind of. Hopefully. You’ll find it.

Carl: Yeah. But go take all your money, get a Jameson’s or paddies or an Irish mist on the side. Cause it’s a good combo with whiskey and a Guinness. Yeah. But yeah, I just, it’s phenomenal. 

Liam: Good to get shout out for the lamp in there. I’m happy about that. Yeah. That’s a nice man.

Liam: So today’s episode, yeah, that’s the only other place I did go. I went a couple of weekends ago to Lil’s Parlor, which if you dunno what Lil’s Parlor is, it’s not as dodgy as it sounds.

Liam: Yeah,

Carl: yeah, yeah. You’re about to find out all about Lil’s parlour.

Liam: Yeah. You’re about to hear all about it and you will want to get to Lil’s Parlor. I mean, but

Carl: this is a great podcast as well like.

Liam: Yes, she is fantastic. I mean, I dunno, I haven’t got the words to describe how, how brilliant what she does. It’s a community interest company. It’s kind of like a charity. It is pretty much a charity.

Carl: Yeah, it is. Yeah. It’s helping people. That’s,

Liam: yeah. It’s all about, it’s pay as you feel basic, so basically she believes everyone deserves a treat day. Not everyone can afford it, especially with the cost of living and how everything is at the minute. It’s ridiculous. So if you bring the kiddie-winks in and maybe you struggle to pay. Whatever the suggested amount is, it’s all what’s that word? Anonymous.

Carl: Yeah, it’s done like kind of [00:07:00] machine. See how much ones, how much you pay on an app when you’re in there. So she doesn’t know what you’ve paid or not and

Liam: nobody working there knows how much you’ve paid.

Carl: My advice is if you can go in there, the food’s great, but if you can overpay cuz you’ll be helping someone that can’t afford, I mean you, we sit here and we are quite lucky, we can afford to go out and buy food and do all this stuff, but there are people that genuinely, they’ve got kids or that want to treat themselves and they can’t go and buy a nice cookie or Yeah. Bit of brownie or something like that. So if you go in, and overpay, that person then gets it. Do you know what I mean?

Liam: And if you can’t even do that like you can’t get all the way over to West Heath if it’s not your side of town, that’s fine. Just see what she does on social media. Go follow us. Just share what she does.

Liam: She’s always posting about it. It’s a great way of supporting these businesses. You might not be able to support them financially or get them physically to the shop, but help them out online. Just give ’em a share. Like same with all kinds of independent businesses.

Carl: A hundred per cent man. But it’s an emotional podcast as well. It’s good. We cover lots of bases and she’s very honest. Fun as well though. It’s, yeah, obviously we are doing it, so there’s gonna be like a fun element to it?

Liam: But she’s fun as well. It’s not all doom & gloom. Really good crack. Yeah, I mean I had the cookies there the weekend. They, oh. My Kinder cookie was just ridiculous. Ridiculous. And Niamh, my daughter said it was the best cookie she’s ever had.

Carl: I’ll take her, I take her advice on that.

Liam: She knows cookies. She’s had a lot of them. Yeah, so hope you enjoy this episode. If you do enjoy what we do, I know we just talked about it, but if you could give us some support, that would be amazing.

Liam: If you would like to give us the price of a coffee or a pint, well it’s probably less so it starts at three quid, you can go to the link in the show notes and go and donate to us there. Obviously, if you can’t do that, that’s perfectly fine. How about just going and telling someone at work about our brilliant podcast maybe they’ll listen and that will give us a boost as well.

Carl: So Yeah, of course, it does we don’t get paid. This is our own time. This is a hobby for us that we love doing, so any money we get goes back into this.

Liam: [00:09:00] Yeah, and all the support you give us, we love that as well. That really fuels us. To go and shout the message about how bloody brilliant Birmingham is. So enjoy this episode, ladies and gentlemen, Lucy from Lil’s Parlour

Liam: no, we’re definitely not live. We’re not live . No more live . Not yet. Have you ever done a live podcast Live? No, no.

Lucy: I’ve done live radio. Live radio. Not podcast,

Liam: how was that?

Lucy: It was fine. It was all right. It’s BBC Radio four, so I had to be very on it. And it was very, very, it was over really, really quick. And the other time was Jeremy Vine and he grilled me and I could feel the sweat coming outta places I didn’t know I could sweat. And at the end again, I was just like, I didn’t swear. And that was there, It was so good.

Carl: That’s good, man. So we’re here with lucy?

Liam: Yeah. Yeah. Lucy, not Lil

Lucy: not Lil

Liam: I have to keep saying not Lil. Yeah. Lucy.

Lucy: I brought it on myself though, didn’t I? Guys? Let’s be honest, I didn’t make it easy for myself with the choice of name for the business, but there is a, there is a story behind the name, but people can call me Lil, can call me what? I’ll just go, yeah. What?

Liam: Might as well start there. What’s the story behind that name?

Carl: Yeah. What’s that?

Lucy: Yeah, so Lil was my, who likes genealogy? Lil was my dad’s mom. I lost my dad in 2006. To Really rare forms of cancer. And that’s when my life kind of changed. I was 26 at the time and realized that I was a pretty unhappy person for lots of different reasons.

Lucy: So that was really a turning point in my life. And when I started the concept of working for myself, and having my own business, they needed to be with me. They as in my dad, his mom my mom’s mom, and my family, because family are really important to me. So Phil’s Parlor, which was my dad’s name, didn’t really have the same ring to it.[00:11:00]

Lucy: So we just went for Lil’s Parlour. And Lil all my family are from a very, very working class. Poor Birmingham families. And they had this front room that they called the Parlor. And when you think of a parlour, you think of something quite grand and quiet, it was not, it was just, it was really plain with a really old cloth sofa.

Liam: Is that a Brummie thing, did you have that the parlour? Sometimes when I went to a few friends’ houses, like we, we didn’t like, cause we, we were Irish, we call things differently, but some of my friends, brummie Friends said it’s in the parlour. Yeah. It’s like the front room, isn’t it? Front room. The front room, yeah.

Carl: We used to say front room. That’s again all my family. Yeah. Irish. Yeah. And

Lucy: we weren’t, we weren’t allowed in the front room as kids.

Liam: Yeah, just for show?

Lucy: all you wanna do when you were a kid is go in this room, And I remember finally making it in there and sadly it was when my grandad was really ill and they’d got his bed in there and thinking, why have they been hiding it? there was, there’s nothing in there. It was sad really. But they were proud of it. And you know, so that’s why, that’s why it’s Lil’s parlour, cuz their names are in the light. Cuz all these little people that you meet in your life be it your family, your friends. It could be someone that you just bump into once they all become part of your kind of DNA.

Lucy: And what goes in and what I’m doing here is very much about bringing people together. , you know, I’m just a figurehead, so to speak. Yeah, so it just seemed right that she stayed there. Even though once I did have an email from a very angry lady who had seen Lil’s Parlor on her husband’s bank statement.

Lucy: He’d bought her a birthday cake, but she thought he’d been going for some extracurricular activities at Lil’s Parlor. And I had to explain it was for your birthday cake and she felt terrible. And that’s not the first time that kind of, but you know what? Keep people guessing, why should a name be X, Y, and Z? Why should it be my business, my name, whatever.

Carl: I’ve been Why are you checking his bank statement? Oh, exactly. Trust has

Carl: already gone in that relationship.

Liam: So that’s something deeper than that.

Lucy: Wow. Sorry, it was lemon drizzle. Was that a problem I mean, to be honest, I never got to the bottom. Was it her birthday cake to be continued? I don’t know. Cause I never heard from her again. She might have been thinking what? He never bought me a cake, cause a divorce, I dunno.

Liam: Yeah, maybe you assumed that she thought it was a parlour as in that kind of parlour, but maybe she did know it was a cake parlour and thought, hang on, he’s going to get cake. But it wasn’t my cake.

Lucy: It’s just all too complex, isn’t it? This could be anything.

Liam: Yeah, this is like black mirror

Lucy: When you Google this business, because this is a really old part of Birmingham. There has been businesses and people here for hundreds of years.

Lucy: There are lots of old Google pins still in that I’ve tried to remove and there is, when you google this building and look at the pins, there is a massage parlour over here. Nothing to do with me. I hasten to add. Nobody I’ve asked. Other people in the buildings are like, no, no, nothing about that one. But you know, again, not helping me, but there you go.

Carl: No, I was gonna say, why don’t you just Google it? And clearly, she did. Cause it’s definitely a knocking shop

Lucy: I know. God. Then people meet me and they’re like, no, it definitely isn’t. There you go.

Liam: So before 2006, what did you do for work?

Lucy: So I’m pretty old now. It really makes me feel ill when I think that 1993 was 20 years ago, and I’m like, what? Pardon, 

Liam: No, 30 years ago. Sorry, what?

Lucy: Oh no, I can’t deal.

Liam: Sorry. Sorry to break this to you.

Lucy: Yeah, so I was brought up in a family where I was always, for some reason, signposted to be the first grandchild that went to university, and that was how my life was dictated. So I was a really high achiever at school.

Lucy: I got really good grades. I went and did my A levels, I got really good grades. I went to university. Then I realized that academia really wasn’t for me.

Liam: What did you study?

Lucy: I did history, economic and social history. So I’ve always been interested in kind of social movements and just the history of that.

And then when I graduated uni my wonderful brain that we could talk about later decided to have what I believe they’re called a nervous breakdown. Back in 2001. So I actually spent a couple of years after I graduated from uni doing pretty much nothing lying in the bedroom. My parents spare a spare room, just rotting away really, to be honest.

And then I dabbled with all sorts of jobs. I used to sign up with agencies. I’ve been a pa, I’ve worked in airports, I’ve worked in all sorts of places, but I could just never settle. I could just never, I didn’t enjoy going to work for another person. I’ve got family who were teachers and that and these two words always used to be nibbled at me.

Lucy: Teacher or solicitor? Teacher, solicitor. They used to be a really good teacher or solicitor. So I thought, right, I’m gonna go back to uni. I did my P G C E, came out as a fully qualified teacher, and I did that for 10. And then while I was teaching, I just surprise, surprise, hated it. And started doing my own thing for my mental health really?

Lucy: Cause I could feel that I was on a trajectory towards kind of doom again. And so I started baking j and taking stuff in and people were like, this is really good. Bring more. Then I did the whole bake-off thing where I was a standby contestant on bake-off. And when I came out of that process I thought, you know what? Now or never, you’ve gotta jump off the cliff. And at the time where I was working, we’re doing it’s not called redundancy, it’s called severance. It’s essentially when they need to get rid of as many people as possible. And I put myself forward for that and they didn’t give it to me because when you’re teaching, you’re, you’re graded.

Lucy: And I was a grade one teacher, which doesn’t necessarily mean anything. So they didn’t want me to go, so I had to fight for that severance. And then the money that I got from that severance started this business. And then that’s all, it’s all snowballed from there. So yeah, we laugh in my family. What job haven’t I done?

I’ve been, I’ve done everything from being a cleaner. I’ve cleaned caravans. Yeah. And I think life experience is really important because what I’m doing here now, I would [00:17:00] never expect anyone that works for me to do anything that I wouldn’t do myself. I’ll put my hand down the toilet, I’ll clean, stick up off the floor, I’ll do all that stuff as well.

And it’s just, I think having a lot of work experience, maybe not as much as me, is a way to keep you grounded. Really. I, I don’t regret it. Put me under anything. Me, except massage parlours,

Lucy: you get one life. I really, really admire people when I speak to people and they say, oh, I’ve been, I’ve been a teacher for 45 years. My jaw drops because I just think I admire you so much. I admire your tenacity. I admire the fact you’ve bought yourself a house and you’ve got this lovely life and it’s all so normal, but I’d hate it

Lucy: You know? So that’s the kind of mindset that I have to fight with all the time. This is kind of what you’re supposed to do to make society think you’re great. And what I can cope with, which is usually the polar opposite of what people think you should do. But that’s fine.

Carl: Yeah, I think that’s changed a lot anyway.

Carl: The whole job for life [00:18:00] thing. I mean I used to work on the railway when I was told Job for life. This is Job for Life. Yeah. Got made redundant

Lucy: they say about teaching. I mean, I think two-thirds of teachers that qualify leave within the first three years. Now teaching was always, you know, it was a solid job.

Lucy: You’re gonna get a mortgage, it’s gonna be great. You’re gonna be doing it till you retire with a good pension. It’s not even the same with that now. And I know a lot of people that are still teaching and they’re looking at leaving or they’ve got side hustles. Hate that, hate that word. I can’t believe I just said that

Lucy: But they’re doing something else to kind of look about getting out of the profession. And I do. And I think also Covid has made people realize that life can be very short., we don’t have to be living in this box that we’ve been taught for many years, is the way it goes. And yeah, I

Liam: got a favourite quote, but I wish I should really Learn who said it, but it’s like you only have two lives.

Liam: Your second life begins when you realize you only have one.

Lucy: Exactly. And there’s been several things that have happened in my life and it’s probably taken me a bit too late to realize it, that that is [00:19:00] completely true. Mm-hmm. And you know, there’s often been times when I’ve thought, if I get a bit morbid but if I died tomorrow, what would I have left behind?

Lucy: And there are times in my life when I’ve thought absolutely nothing, like what would I have achieved? Nothing. And that to me just didn’t fit very well. Cause I’ve got such a lot to say and a lot to do. And yeah. plough on.

Carl: So you’re happy now? That’s good. Yeah. Yeah. You’re all good.

Lucy: You know. We chase happiness, don’t we?

Lucy: Happiness is something that we feel we need to aspire to. Even on a spiritual or a

Liam: like, it’s some kind of destination

Lucy: . Yeah, it’s a destination. But you know, regarding the business, I don’t think if you are, I don’t think you are ever happy with your own business, because I think that is what fuels the fire.

Lucy: That’s what kicks you up the ass to move on to the next thing. If you become complacent and allow it to be you. You know, it is what it is. It, it’s, you’ve gotta move with it. You’ve gotta constantly be pushing for something better. Have things to work towards otherwise, I think, yeah. So I’ll, I’ll never, regarding the business, I don’t think I’ll ever be happy because that’s what inspires me.

Lucy: But home life, yeah, I’ve, I’ve always been very happy in my home. I’m, I’m lucky.

Liam: I think it’s a state of mind. You gotta work on it every single day. It’s not something, right? That’s it. I’m happy now. And that’s forever. Exactly. It’s not an easy thing every single day. You’ve gotta work

Lucy: It can be hour by hour.

Lucy: Something can really upset you at 10 o’clock in the morning, which is gonna send your day spiralling into, I hate everything by five o’clock. Do you know? And then the next day you might get up and that seems like a memory. And you think to yourself, oh God, why was I on such a bad, I ruined yesterday because of that thing that, you know, I let another person or a situation spoil my day.

Lucy: And that’s another date ticked off the calendar, isn’t it? , don’t let ’em do it. .

Liam: It’s a common theme we have on this podcast when we speak to like, Chefs and business owners, it’s if you stand still, you’re pretty much dead, really. Like, as a business,

Lucy: I mean, even physically. If I step away from the business and have a break or a holiday, 10 out of 10 times, I’m [00:21:00] ill.

Lucy: As soon as I get on the plane, I’m ill because it’s like all of sudden, every bloody Christmas. Do you know what I mean?

Carl: No way, that’s him. every Christmas, he’s ill

Liam: every Christmas I’m sick

Lucy: this year. Had covid, I, I avoided it for nearly three years. Christmas morning I woke up and Matt was like, do a test. Bang. Oh, unreal.

Lucy: That was this Christmas. Yeah. But yeah. Yeah, it is true. You’ve gotta keep, I think a lot of, a lot of people in the food industry are highly, highly creative. Mm-hmm. , I think you get people that are very good with the numbers and the business. And you also get people that are creative and they wanna create something different.

Lucy: Be that a product or be that an idea or be that space. And you’ve gotta keep working towards that, what you wanna do. Otherwise, as you say, you just stop and it’s all, it feels done.

Liam: I’m not saying don’t take holidays, I mean, like, no, I’m not one of, them American YouTube people.

Lucy: Oh God. I love, I mean, I, it’s only in the past. Probably been a couple of years since I have actually allowed myself to take holidays. [00:22:00] But the problem with the concept of holiday for me, is I don’t get a holiday unless I physically move away from this place. If I’m set up the road in my house, I’m still gonna be on emails. I’m still doing my DMs, I’m still doing all.

Lucy: If I go to, I don’t know, Japan, I wish I can’t do that on a completely different time zone. I have to trust the people that I’ve left this place in the hands of. , and that’s when I have an actual break.

Liam: But I would nearly bet my life that after a few days of chilling, you’d be like. An idea would just come into your head about, oh, I could do this.

Lucy: Every time, you know, every time I come back off a holiday, I’ve got a little book that I write ideas in. Mm-hmm. And that’s when it gets filled up. So it goes to show you can’t pour from an empty cup so you can work and work and work and work. You’re not gonna get anything new or anything inspirational and travel inspires me massively.

Lucy: You always see something when you’re travelling that you think, oh, I’ve never heard of that, or, that tastes amazing. Or what’s that spice, what’s that ingredients that you can bring back and kind of play with?

Liam: Yeah, that’s what I mean, like downtime’s really important to creativity. It is. So [00:23:00] we kind of got here fast, but you said you used your redundancy or severance money to get to here. What year?

Lucy: Oh, so the day I walked out of that teaching job was my nephew’s birthday. He was born that day and I thought to myself, that’s it. I’ve made my decision. I’m not having this kid grow up with me being this twisted, bitter, unhappy auntie. So he was one of the reasons. So that was exactly seven years ago, February, exactly seven years ago that I walked out and I’ve not worked a day for anybody else since then.

Lucy: I dunno how, but I haven’t,

Carl: could you bake before?

Lucy: I wish I had one of these romantic stories where I could say that I was sat with a pinny on with my granny making cakes. That didn’t happen in my life. Both my parents were really working. They were always at work. So I must have been born with a food obsession.

Lucy: They used to leave us and, sorry mom, I’m telling the tales. They used to leave us on our own quite young. I think these days you wouldn’t get away with [00:24:00] it. They used to say, don’t answer the door if anyone knocks. Yeah, I, cause they had to go to work, you know, but that’s when I used to go in the kitchen and think, Hmm, what can I remember them coming home

Lucy: my dad would be like, what have you bloody done? Stuff everywhere. And I remember the first time I tried to make spun sugar was watching James Martin and we’re going back like James Martin baby. James Martin. And he’d been doing spun sugar and our watch. I thought, right, I’m gonna go in the kitchen and do that.

Lucy: My dad came home from work and it was everywhere. It was hanging off the ceiling, it was in the dog’s fur, and it was everywhere. And that, I think that at that time, that’s when I was, I just love, I’ve always loved food and making food and baking is just so therapeutic because it’s quite scientific. I enjoy baking cuz it’s scientific, but I also really enjoy pushing the boundaries with the science in baking.

Lucy: And that’s what keeps me moving. So a lot of people watch me bake and they go, you never look at a recipe. And I’m like, yeah, but it’s all in here. Or on this particular day, I’ll just take a [00:25:00] risk. And if it works, brilliant. If it doesn’t it goes in the bin or it gets blended up and rolled into something else. But no, I’ve had no classical training.

Lucy: I’d never stepped foot in a professional kitchen in my life until Alex Claridge invited me to help them with, a corporate popup. They were doing. That’s the first time. Imagine that first time you’ve ever stepped into a professional kitchen, and you’ve got Alex there and you’ve got Andy Low n slow there and you’ve got me walking in looking like, I’m like, oh my God, my, I just, I was so.

Lucy: Embarrassed stroke overwhelmed. I didn’t know what to do with myself. But cuz I’ve watched so many master chefs and great British chefs and everything else I’ve binged on all my life, I thought I know how to behave in this kitchen. Gotta keep it very clean and tidy. and Chloe from Verbena had messaged me. I went, Chloe, you’re gonna have to help me.

Lucy: You’ve got the training, what do I do? She’s like, take your own knives, make sure you really well presented. Keep your station clean. Don’t speak until you’ve spoken to. And I was like, I got this and it was brilliant. I loved it. So,

Liam: but in fairness, Andy and Alex would be great to work with.

Carl: Great. Yeah.

Lucy: Well I’d never met them, so I was like, these Birmingham in my mind, celebrities cuz everyone that. That cooks food in my eyes is a celebrity. That could be someone down the road that’s making samosas in a paper bag. They have got my heart, so when I meet them, I’m like, oh, you make really good food.

Carl: They, they’re our celebrities. Siobhans like, oh, he’s, not on tele I’m like, I’d be less bothered if he was on tele. Yeah, he, he’s a celebrity to me. Like

Liam: People fanboy over like footballers and stuff, whatever. we fanboy over chefs.

Lucy: God, you know what, when I was younger I used to really love, I mean what gnaws. I used to really love meeting celebrity chefs.

Lucy: I’ve got photos of me with all sorts of them. The Harry bikers, Brian Turner, lovely, Gary, what was his name? That pass Rhodes Gary Rhodes. He was lovely to me. And Ainsley. Harriet and yeah, these guys were like, I was obsessed. Not necessarily, I mean I did like take that a lot, but I also loved [00:27:00] these. And the two fat ladies were my absolute favourite when I was growing up.

Lucy: And I used to watch Delia Smith, so, These guys have been my teachers. They are my heroes. And still to this day, I watch them and I think, ugh. I watch a bit of old Two Fat Ladies on YouTube and I’m just loving it. . . There you go. ,

Carl: if you going on YouTube, I like the Old Floyd videos. Oh, I love watching him cook.

Lucy: So my mom used to like a drink of wine. She’s not allowed to drink it anymore, but she did. And my dad worked nights and my mom didn’t really like us going to bed too early cuz she felt lonely. So she used to let us watch Eastenders. And Floyd and I were well up for that. And then as time went on, she’d let us stay up a little bit later and I’d be like, is it ready steady Cook used to be on about eight o’clock. Didn’t it? Used to Let me watch that as well. Before knew it was up till midnight watching the Carlton Food Network. , but you know, so yeah, Floyd’s brilliant, amazing. I dunno how the man managed to focus because he’s so wasted most of the time.

Carl: Yeah, that’s me on a Sunday, if I’m cooking a roast dinner, that’s it. The [00:28:00] wine comes out, I start,

Lucy: well you gotta put it in the gravy, so you might as well drink it. Gotta know. It’s a good wine to go into a good gravy. So I understand

Liam: seven years ago, you start, did you have the shop from seven years ago?

Lucy: No. No. God, this shop has been a journey. So starting off from the kitchen at home. And then I thought, I can’t do this anymore because it was just working from home, not for everyone, is it? And it certainly wasn’t for me. So then I got a few days a week in a shared kitchen in a community centre. And then I know Dawn from Painted lady tattoo. Next door and she said there’s a building coming up. I’m giving up my second studio. Do you want it? And I said, Dawn, I won’t be able to afford it. Like it’s not gonna happen. She says, trusts me I’ll make sure you can afford it. So I owe Dawn a massive debt of gratitude for actually getting me in this building.

Lucy: I remember shutting the door behind me and thinking Jesus, what have you done Lucy? And we’ve done loads of work to it. I think I moved in here in 2018 when I first moved in. It was always gonna be basically a dark kitchen. Cuz at that point I was still serving cafes, restaurants, bars, some really well-known ones actually.

Lucy: But my name was never on the, was never on the goods. Mm. So I have to say to people, you’ve probably eaten my stuff, but you just dunno about it. And then obviously Covid hit, COVID hit a time when I was just looking to open up a little bit to the public and I thought wrong timing, COVID was mental because everyone was stuck with nothing to do except e myself included.

Lucy: So, you know, I was just here day in, day out. Brownies, I got sick of the sight of brownies. I can’t look at another brownie in my life. still to this day. I hate making them cuz I’m PTSD. And yeah, after kind of the covid thing, the postal stuff that was so popular dropped off a cliff. Mm-hmm. So the whole time I’ve run this business has been peaks and troughs of feast and famine really.

Lucy: And I’d say the worst famine of all came after Covid. And I thought this, I’ve gotta close, I just cannot do this anymore. And didn’t realize at the [00:30:00] time, but I was actually quite unwell in myself, but I was just carrying on because as I said, you don’t take holidays just doing what you can. I actually found out I had sepsis caused by my gallbladder.

Lucy: So I ended up as an emergency in the hospital. Don’t remember anything else. When I came around, they told me that it had been really touch and go regarding me actually surviving, and that’s when I thought, right, this has all gotta change now. I’m sick of everything. I’m sick of the business, don’t like running a business, it’s time for me to step out of this box that I was putting myself in because I thought that’s what I should have been doing and just do what the hell I wanted.

Lucy: And that was 2021 and I’ve not looked back since. So

Liam: what was it about running the business you didn’t enjoy?

Lucy: Don’t enjoy pedalling for money. I know that that sounds nuts, doesn’t it? Mm-hmm. That really does, but I just don’t enjoy it, I know some people get really pumped by the transaction. I don’t, yeah.

Lucy: To me, the transaction is somebody enjoying it, somebody biting into it and having a little, you know, when you get the goosebumps, when you eat something [00:31:00] really good, it, for me, it’s about the joy of the connection of people and food and sharing food. The business side of it just wasn’t for me. And I could have probably hired some business manager or something to come and do that part of me, but I hadn’t got the money to do that.

Lucy: Yeah. So I had to make a decision. That I had to put my heart and soul into this and what I’m offering and that’s what I’ve done. And it’s not been easy and it’s still not easy, but I’m still here. Do you know what I mean?? Yeah, I’m still here. I’ve always felt a little bit, probably speaking a bit outta turn, but in regards to Birmingham, I’ve always felt a little bit, not an underdog, but just not seen because of the location that I’m in and various, other things possibly because I don’t push myself enough cuz of my own self-esteem.

Lucy: But since I’ve been doing this, I’ve been seen and heard. And I think that’s because I’m being my true self. I’m not trying to be somebody else. I’m not trying to follow a business model that everybody else is doing. I’ve got no passion for it. Mm-hmm. , I’m here just [00:32:00] unapologetically doing what I wanna do for me, for my life and for the community around me.

Lucy: And it’s just all clicked if that makes sense.

Carl: Yeah. Just, yeah, completely

Liam: what is it, people don’t buy products they buy from people or something like that. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Lucy: And especially in the cost of living crisis at the moment. There’s a marketing term called the lipstick product and During the War you know, a lot of economic history does go back to World War ii, cause that’s where we’ve got the most statistics. Women had the money for what they called lipstick items. And in those times it was lipstick. So you were thinking about what can I afford? Well, I can’t afford a dress or I can’t afford shoes, but I can afford lipstick.

Lucy: So I’ve been looking at people’s spending behaviours and I feel we’ve gone a little bit back into that lipstick product. At the moment, you’re not necessarily gonna cash out 150 quid on something, but if it’s something that’s gonna make you feel good at that moment and it’s a fiver, go for it. That’s the pattern that I’m seeing with this I could be completely wrong. Don’t come at me.

Liam: That sounds about right,

Liam: Did you kind of have the confidence to change things up because it was kind of like the last roll of the dice, you’re like, ah, fuck it. I might as well have a go. Yeah,

Lucy: I mean, pay as you can have been something that I’ve been pretty obsessive with for a long time because I believe in a world where the well should be shared. Not everybody agrees with me and I’ve really, I’ve got a lot of stick for that. But yeah, it was the last roll of the dice, but it was also. personally, the last chance I felt I was gonna get to be like, do you know what, this is really who I am. This is, this is what I wanna do, this is what I’ve always wanted to do.

Lucy: Mm-hmm and yeah, the, the conversations around pay as you can and the amount of, I mean I get probably 10 emails a week of other businesses asking me, I’ve seen you doing this model, we really interested. We want to know about it. But I just don’t have the time to kind of keep going to everybody and saying for free, cuz obviously, this is what I’m doing, this is how I did, this is 10 years of research and economic study. Here you go. Here it is for you. I think sometimes people think that I’d stepped into this off a cliff, but I had the background, so thanks university for that. Really. Yeah. To kind of understand the economics around it.

Carl: For anyone that doesn’t know, as you’re saying it, just as a basis, what is it?

Lucy: So pay as you can. in black and white is exactly that. You can come here when I’m open. I’m only open on a Saturday, and you can, you pay what you can afford. I’ve taken the feel out of it because I think if feelings get involved then it all starts to get a bit cuz we all feel we should only pay X amount.

Lucy: So it’s what you can, so it’s looking at what you can and what you can’t. There is a recommended price because the community vocalized quite early on that they didn’t feel comfortable without a guideline. I’ve set the recommended price probably a little bit lower than recommended retail price just to, again, just to kind of take those breaks off a little bit on the emotions.

Lucy: But there’s an anonymous app here and you pay what you can afford for what you leave with. We don’t see it. We don’t see any of the transactions.

Liam: Oh wow.

Lucy: The only thing I see about the money is when I look at the end of the day and sometimes I go, awesome. And sometimes I go shit, that was really harsh.

Lucy: That’s harsh.

Carl: So you find it balances out though.

Lucy: Yeah, it definitely, it’s really interesting because the last month before Christmas for us was the most shocking financial period we’ve ever had. And you’d think at Christmas people would be generous, they’d be coming, but no, they’re holding onto their money because they need to buy presents or they need to, I don’t know, pay the gas bill or whatever.

Lucy: But since the New Year’s come. It’s starting to balance out a little bit more. So it’s very much, you can’t really look at things week on week. I almost try and look in quarters. Yeah. So I look at the kind of three to four months at a time and I can really see a pattern of, you know, how things are going.

Lucy: Sometimes it’s great, sometimes it’s dreadful. So it’s just, you know,

Carl: I was gonna say, it must be a nightmare on the cash flow for the business though, trying to figure out

Lucy: it is cash. I mean, to be fair, I’ve always really struggled with cash flow anyway because you know, ADHD, I’m not exactly very mathematically minded.

Lucy: I’ve always had people that have controlled my capacity for spending, which is I get an idea, I do it, and then I think that didn’t work and then I move on to something else and then I’ve wasted the money than you know, like when I bought a chocolate tempering machine that lasted all of two months before I sold that

Lucy: But it’s about I have to be really, really spendthrift. So number one, I don’t pay myself a salary, which usually makes everyone go but it can be done. Two, I look at all ingredients every week. So I’ve got spreadsheets and I see who’s selling butter, eggs, those things that have all gone up 40% and my menu changes every single week depending on the price of what I can get stuff.

Lucy: So it’s all about, I hate to be a little bit, I always feel like I’m being a bit Scrooge Mc-duck, but I do have to look at the bottom line all the time. I can’t take my eye away from the bottom line because if I do, it will get out of control really quickly. It would be really easy to go to Booker cuz it’s cheaper.

Lucy: Oh, sorry. Because it’s easy to get my chocolate, but I don’t because sorry Booker. You are way more expensive than in other places. I know. I can get it. So it’s about shopping around, you know, and you’re never gonna come here and see the same thing on the counter every week. You just do not. And I think sometimes that annoys people, but I have to kind of educate that that’s not the, I can sell what I can afford to make.

Liam: It’s quite nice. It gives you a reason to keep coming back.

Lucy: Exactly. And I always say I would not put anything on that counter, that I would not scoff myself, And I truly mean that. Like I would never, ever, and I am so fussy about food and people have said to me things like, well, why don’t you use margarine instead of butter?

Lucy: Not in a million years. I would rather go out of business than feed people chemical plastics in their food, right? Yes. Just the way I am. Chocolate. I’m the same. I’ll use one particular chocolate maker. It’s Belgian chocolate. Certain things. There’s just no question. I mean, I know there’s actually [00:38:00] no such thing as a free-range egg at the moment.

Lucy: Mm-hmm. because of what’s happening with the battery with the barn eggs because of, the avian flu. But again, I’m fussy about where I get my eggs from. I’ve actually got someone over in Alvechurch, to do the eggs for me. And obviously, the price on those fluctuates just found someone actually a really exciting butter manufacturer.

Lucy: But they’re down, they’re down south somewhere, so I’m gonna reach out to them. So I’m always looking and, you know, butter can really change the taste of a brownie or a blondie really can. And, you know, sometimes I might even do something like throwing goat’s butter, give it a kind of, you know, the cheesecakey vibe in the blonde.

Lucy: But these are all kinds of the things I do behind the scenes to keep my brain awake. really.

Liam: You said you don’t take a salary and you said, but it works. How does that work?

Lucy: So I think sometimes people think I’m like this princess that is doing this as like a little project like, oh, look at me with mommy and Daddy’s money, or whatever.

Lucy: There’s none of that. We live in a very small house where thanks [00:39:00] to a fantastic landlord, we’ve got very reasonable rent. My husband works all the hours God sends at Bonehead, but he loves it, so that’s not a problem. So Matt covers our base needs. So he covers rent, bills, car, all that stuff that I really should be contributing to, but I don’t.

Lucy: And then obviously I’m here most of the time, so my kind of needs regarding a cup of tea or a, a sandwich of a lunchtime, this place provides that. So I do things I hate about not having a salary. Then, the mo biggest thing I hate actually is not being able to support other small businesses.

Lucy: Like in the past I’ve always been really active in going to markets, in going to local restaurants. I can’t do that anymore. And I kind of hate that. So when I see new openings, we’d have been there and now it’s like I’m just gonna have to pretend I know what it tastes like, sort of thing.

Liam: Why wouldn’t you give yourself a salary? I don’t think anyone would begrudge you that. Like,

Lucy: Because at [00:40:00] the moment it’s more important for this place to survive than for me to take a salary. Yeah. That’s, that’s the bottom line. Like, we are often working on margins that would make people screw their faces up. We don’t have, I don’t have savings.

Lucy: I’ll be honest with you, I spent my last personal savings last week cuz we had a very unexpected bill come in on this building and me and Matt, I scraped everything together to keep this place because this place is not just about. Cakes. It’s not just about coming in and getting baked goods.

Lucy: It’s way more than that. And the feedback we get about how important it is and the other services we provide for people, it just, it just makes sense for me at the moment. And I can take a salary if I want. The salary I can take as a director of a CIC is really quite handsome, but I can’t do that until there’s some money in the bank to do that bottom line.

Liam: Yeah, I just ask, because you know, sometimes there’s a weird stigma with charities. Like people think, oh, they shouldn’t get paid. They’re doing charity. But [00:41:00] if that person’s a salesman, for instance, and they’re making an extra few thousand for that charity, then they deserve their salary.

Lucy: I employ two people and they’re both paid above the I can’t think what it’s called.

Lucy: Living wage. Living wage. They’re paid quite significantly over the living wage, both of them. And. they are providing for a family with that, one of them has been able to come off a benefit because of that. So the provision that I’m providing for those two families as well is more important to me than me going, being able to go and, scuff myself a burger down at Herbert’s Yard.

Lucy: I’d love to be able to go and do that, don’t get me wrong. But the fact that families are being supported by not only what we are doing, but by the customers that come in and pay for the goods is more important than a burger to me. And I know I’m a bit weird, but that’s just a way that’s not weird.

Liam: That’s amazing. Absolutely amazing.

Carl: Commendable, isn’t it? Jesus

Liam: massively. Was there any part of you that was worried at the very beginning when you first started, you thought, [00:42:00] oh, everyone’s just gonna come in Ram Sack the place and pay like a pound for thirty pounds of stuff

Lucy: like, honestly I dunno how, but I’ve got these viral videos on TikTok.

Lucy: I mean, I’m way too old for TikTok and it scared the living shit out of me because the comments that come through were nearly all like that. What if someone comes in and pays one p? What if, and just comment after comment after comment? And obviously, I did worry about that, but I also know. myself as a very like, rounded human being, physically and mentally.

Lucy: If I went into a pay-as-you-can shop, I would pay as I can. Grayson Perry’s exhibition at the Mac at the moment is pay as you can. Yeah. And because of that, I was, I was able to go. . Mm. I was able to go, I paid the recommended payment, which was less than the payment above, but because of that and because of that generous offering from the Mac, I could go mm-hmm.

Lucy: for my mental health. So, that’s the cycle that’s going on here. Really. I have had people come in and I’ve thought it interesting. But I’ve had to teach myself not to be [00:43:00] judgmental about that because I don’t know how many kids they’ve got at home. I don’t know what their situation is. I don’t know if they drive a Mercedes or they’re on Shanks’s pony. I don’t know. I don’t know the circumstances around these people. Yeah. And it’s not for me to judge. And if I did, I wouldn’t be able to run this business model. I don’t think,

Liam: I think it’s human that it’s a really horrible part of human nature. Everyone just assumes the worst. Like Yeah. It’s like when you see somebody at, at the traffic lights looking for spare change, everyone’s like, oh, bet he’s got like a nice house. Look at his Nike trainers

Lucy: Trying not to get emotional talking to you cause I can feel myself getting welling up. But I’ve had people that I’ve been so generous about what we’re doing here. And these people, they’re not millionaires, they’re not wealthy people. A lot of the people that support this place wholeheartedly are so normal.

Lucy: Had someone, a lady that donated her winter fuel payment and I mean, how, how’d you even thank someone for that? Mm-hmm. And she came down at Christmas and I cried all over her and we had a hug and she just said, look, I grew up in nothing. I know I grew up around here with nothing. And I know, the children around here and the families around here that you are helping.

Lucy: Without this, they’d have nothing. Do you know? And there are people like that that just blow my mind every day. Even someone that comes in and pays 20 P more, you know, that’s, that’s amazing to me. Because Birmingham and Brummies, I think, are some of the nicest people. We get such shit like, you know, Birmingham

Lucy: But honestly, I’m so proud of being a Brummie because the community here is so important to a lot of people and so many different communities as well. You’ve got the Irish community, the Bangladeshi community, the Pakistani community, everybody comes here. Mm-hmm. and everybody’s welcome. Yeah. And you know, being a Brummie makes that possible.

Lucy: You couldn’t do that everywhere else in the country, I don’t think. No, maybe you could, but I don’t think you’d find anywhere where it’s quite as easy to [00:45:00] be inclusive as here, definitely.

Liam: And we’ve got such large communities of all of those that you’ve just listed and on the whole, we all get on really well, you know?

Liam: Exactly, exactly.

Lucy: Yeah. I just think it’s incredible. And as you know, just going back to food, so many foods that I’ve tasted being a Brummie that I would never be able to have done if I’d had lived somewhere else. You know, even when I was at school in the eighties, we had a couple of, I think they were from India, and they used to bring in the sweets and. I can remember the taste, I can remember the texture. I can remember having my mind blown. And we had another boy in the class that was from Russia and he brought caviar into school because they’d come back from Russia. And I mean, I am from Hall Green, don’t you know, but no, Nicholas

Lucy: and he brought caviar in and we all got to taste it. That’s really sad. In schools, they’re not allowed to do that anymore. Actually. Yeah. don’t start me on that but you know, this is all because we live in such a multicultural place. I didn’t like that caviar and I still wouldn’t thank you for it,

Lucy:Just putting it out there. . I’m a very plain eater apparently

Liam: so doing the amazing stuff you do here. Everyone must love it. You never get any shit online.

Lucy: Oh my God. I get trolls coming out my ass way. How much do you say without sounding like an idiot? So when I first started the Pay as you Can, lovely, Birmingham Live did an article about me a little bit misquoted.

Lucy: The guy that came was smashing that did the article, but he said something in the clickbait, something like “Birmingham’s poorest neighbourhoods to get”. And I thought straight away that’s gonna get people’s backs up. Yeah, yeah. Because I don’t give a shit what you do. Aspirational poverty is a thing.

Lucy: Nobody likes to be told they’re poor, even if it’s in front of their face. So I thought, I’m gonna get shit for this. And I actually did someone put a letter with some poo on it through the letter box saying, we don’t need this here. So I

Liam: seen That Northfield, it’s said Northfield Birmingham’s poorest. And I was like, I don’t, I [00:47:00] don’t think Northfields that bad.

Lucy: Yeah. It’s a really interesting area. This is. I am sat on the fault line right here in the shop between Northfield and West Heath. Yeah. And according to Birmingham City Council, Northfield and West Heath have got different counselors. They’ve got a different neighbourhood officer, they’ve got different bobbies that go up and down.

Lucy: So I am one-half of both. Mm-hmm. So when you look at the ONS data, Northfields really interesting cuz you’ve got some really high-income families, but then you’ve also got some of the poorest in the city. Same in West Heath. So you’ve got this really kind of scales, but it’s the same everywhere, I think.

Liam: Yeah, I think so.

Lucy: You can’t look at a person and assess whether they’re rich or poor, you know? But I think had a lot of discussions with people. Why are you in Northfield? Why not? Yeah. It’s not a horrible place. It’s actually really nice. Yeah. You know, and I have had people say to me, you know, I see sometimes people order stuff in the post and they probably live Bournville or Stirchley and I think, and they say, oh no [00:48:00] we don’t know Northfield. But think about what you will.

Carl: that’s mad. I read the article today cause, believe it or not, I actually did some research for a change.

Lucy: Congratulations,

Carl: I read that, double take, did a double take. When I read the headline, I was like, really?

Lucy: Yeah. The headline doesn’t represent the article at all, does it?

Lucy: No.

Liam: Well, I would say, and I’m not trying to defend Birmingham live, it’s that they have specialist headline writers. Yeah. So the person who’d done the interview probably wasn’t the person who,

Lucy: no, I don’t think he was. Yeah, it needs to be fair, he did send me an email because I said, look, really appreciate this article, but I’ve gotten some hate mail and I don’t think I really. Should be getting it. And they changed the art, they changed the headline. But when you go on the article now, it still says it, in the search bar. So, you know, I was quite, quite proud ’cause I’m very protective over Northfield, believe it or not. I’m very protective of this community.

Liam: You’re such a big part of it. Why wouldn’t you be?

Lucy: Yeah. Yeah. And honestly, we have some right scary looking people coming in here occasionally, but they have got a heart of gold and they’re lovely and they’re just proper, [00:49:00] like old school Brummies. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. You know, I just think people around here, they work really, really hard.

Lucy: Majority of the people that work in this area are in some kind of manual labour. But then you’ve also kind of got the kind of blue-collar office staff as well. But everyone that comes here is working and they’re on their ass and they tell me about this, the problems they’re having with their finances and bills.

Lucy: And you know, there have been times when I’ve given out blankets because people have come and said that they’re so cold, they’re not, they’re unable to do their work at home cuz they’re so cold. So I’ve gone out and bought some blankets and handed those out and these. I think that that article likes to suggest that I’m helping people that aren’t helping themselves.

Lucy: But how does anybody help themselves in this set of circumstances at the moment? Stop judging, literally stop judging other human beings. It drives me mad. Yeah.

Liam: A lot of times to make themselves try and feel better about themselves.

Lucy: Yeah. So [00:50:00] Birmingham’s a very aspirational place, and I think it is, we, I think it’s almost started as a bit of a joke, but it’s maybe got serious in people’s mind. Like, you see that meme going around where you’ve got different areas on and one’s giving the snooty look to the other one. And it starts as a bit of a joke, but then actually it becomes quite serious and Yeah. Yeah. You know, it’s just, just we’re just all Brummies really. We all got the river Rea running under our feet somewhere.

Lucy: Yeah.

Liam: So on a more positive note, you’ve done a few TV appearances.

Lucy: Oh yes, I don’t know why, where that actually, or where did come from. I think that started with the viral TikTok. So the power of TikTok is ridiculous. So I think, yeah, somebody in the Metro saw a TikTok and did an article about me in the Metro, and then somebody from the BBC saw the article in the Metro, probably sat on the tube on the way to work.

Lucy: And it kind of, so I did, I’ve done quite a lot of radio. I’ve done quite a lot of tv. I’ve done quite a lot of live tv. Just talking about this really, because I think it blows people’s minds a little bit.

Liam: I think that, but it’s inspiring as well.

Lucy: Yeah. Yeah. And like the last thing I see myself as. Hand on the heart is an inspirational person. I see myself as a bit of a gob shite that’s got a lot to say. who just decided they were gonna do this because they’re stubborn and it’s gonna bloody work. So inspirational may be, but that’s not how I see myself at all. .

Liam: well I think you are. And you’ve been on the one show.

Lucy: Yes. So the one show came and did and most of the things that I’ve been involved with have been to do with the cost of living crisis, which don’t you hate the way the press in this country everything. It’s gotta have a tagline. Cost of living crisis, Brexit. Yes. It’s gotta have an angle to it. What’s that one they’re doing about Harry?

Lucy: Oh, it always getting mad. Got to give it an angle, haven’t they? So cost, they wanted to come and do back Cost of Living Crisis, so I thought, oh, it’s gonna be really miserable cuz News Night had been the week before and that was pretty miserable. So when the one show came they sent the most gorgeous presenter and I [00:52:00] said, look, I don’t want to be portrayed as an angel.

Lucy: I don’t wanna be portrayed as, you know, giving out arms to the community. She was like, no, we’re gonna completely you, you are in control. We’re gonna completely twist it. And they just did the most positive, amazing, I think it was two minutes, not even that. So that was the one show. And they were, they were brilliant. I loved it. I loved it.

Carl: Oh, that’s good. I can’t like to think of the one show without thinking of the scene in the Royal family, you know when they’re all singing ONE.

Lucy: And I was like, on the night it was on, I was really excited cuz Lauren Laverne was hosting it and as I was obsessed with Kenickie, her band, and when I saw Lauren Laverne and then she messaged me saying, oh, I saw, you know, it was brilliant what you’re doing.

Lucy: I was like, oh my god, Lauren Laverne. I can’t cope. like the original Punker has messaged me. So yeah, the one show was brilliant and Steph’s packed lunch was amazing as well. Just the vibe of that show is incredible. It’s all was really useful and really funky and they’ve got a [00:53:00] live audience and it makes you feel.

Lucy: And I looked at the guy doing the cheffing and I was well jealous. I was like, do you know what? I would love to do that. I would just love one opportunity in my life to go and do a cooking show, you know? Mm. Flip some pancakes on Love tv. Make a few innuendos. Just once.

Liam: Just do it on TikTok. just as good now

Carl: Isn’t it the fellow that won Bakeoff or came to the final of bakeoff?

Lucy: John wait is on it occasionally, and then they’ve got another, I mean, I’m rubbish with names. These, you know, they say as you get older you forget names. And that’s what I’m like, I’m like, yeah, that Italian guy, he’s possibly Greek.

Lucy: I don’t know. . He’s lovely. He was on it the day I, what’s his name? It doesn’t matter. Anyway, he was on it. But John wait, wasn’t there, unfortunately, would’ve been a bit awkward because the year when I was standing by, for John for Bakeoff, he won it. So I would’ve been looking at my competition dead in the eye. Like, why didn’t you cut your finger? Could have been me.

Liam: How are things today here now after you said is, after Christmas is picked up?

Lucy: It’s been. The last couple of months have been a rollercoaster. I mean, I know we’re only in February, but we also know that January has 950 days. Yeah. So during January, we had a couple of incidences with bills going up here where I had to take a very hard look at finances and make a decision whether or not we were gonna carry on.

Lucy: We’ve decided we’re gonna give it another six months, and it was almost like as soon as I made that decision, people started to come back through the door. But I hadn’t actually said anything. It was really weird. It’s like people just knew that. Yeah. Yeah, and I think sometimes Christmas people are so focused on providing for their families and providing what they do for, you know, what you’re supposed to do at Christmas that maybe they were just not coming.

Lucy: I don’t know. But it’s been, the last few weeks have been absolutely amazing and I’ve had Adam Carver come, fat Butcher, who’s a drag queen that I just like, absolutely. I’m in love. [00:55:00] So when he walks to the door, I was like, oh gosh, , I dunno what to do. So Adam came down and stage door, and Johnny came down as well.

Lucy: I dunno if you’ve seen him on TikTok. No. He’s got something like 1.4 million followers. Wow. But he’s, again, he’s a, he’s a burlesque ringmaster kind of performer. Someone that I admire so much because one of the things that I get, which I just, I dunno why it is, but it just is this is a really safe space for members of the queer community.

Lucy: And that’s, I’ve always aspired for it to be that. And it’s just kind of organically happened. So for Johnny and Adam to come, people, that I admire so much in the work they do in their own community and they have a lot of views. I was just floored to be honest. And yeah, it’s. , yeah. Amazing. But every single person that comes through this door is greeted in the same way as Adam or Johnny or anyone else because anybody that’s made the effort to get out of bed in their pyjamas and come here, cuz that does happen quite a lot.

Lucy: [00:56:00] Is just everything to me.

Liam: You must get a lot of repeat customers every week.

Lucy: Yeah, it’s really, it’s like, so I’ve got, I’ve got Summer Gang and Winter Gang, so in winter it’s all baked goods. We don’t have the ice cream machine on at all. And that’s when Winter Gang have got their, they’ve got their dug in, they come in and then when we put the ice cream back on summer gang kind of floats back in with the kids and for the ice creams.

Lucy: And that’s nice really cuz we see them and they’ve grown like a foot and I’m like, oh you came last summer didn’t you? You know, and they’ve, they’ve gone up a year in school and they come back and then we get the people that are kind of all year rounders that come in as well. So, yeah. But I am absolutely so grateful for everybody that comes in cuz I know. It’s a hard location to get to. I know it’s not on any main drags. I know there’s, you know, like say, you went to Stirchley or Moseley, you could kind of, it’s like a three-hitter. You could go here, there and somewhere else. I appreciate you can’t do that here unless you’re gonna go to the chip shop next door, which is really nice.

Liam: Does look nice. I have seen that the way in. Yeah.

Lucy: Nice chips tell you what though. There’s one down the [00:57:00] road. Wychall lane chip shop. Oh, . . Very passionate about chips. Antony. Greek Cypriot, I think, and he does pork gyros. Ah. So, he marinates it all himself on the skewer. Only does it Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Lucy: Not a week goes by that I’m not dribbling at the thought of going down there for pork gyros, And he does it in the really fluffy flatbread with a few chips in it. Ah. And then make their own tzatziki from scratch. And the tzatziki a chef’s kiss. Sorry. Totally going off on a tangent, . Cause if you get to start talking about chips, I’m off, ah, but yeah, chips next door are lovely, but Wychall lane is just like, they’ve been there 40 years.

Lucy: Wow. And they’re still, they still put a poster on the wall telling you what potato they’ve got in. So back in the day, my dad saw they got new potatoes in like, no, we’re not gonna come here. I don’t like the news, I like the old. And I never really understood what he was talking about. Mm-hmm. But now I do appreciate that different potatoes make different chips. But yeah, just a little, little plug for Anthony there. Cause he’s really [00:58:00] great

Liam: Good on him. Yeah, man. See, I know you said you got a lot of businesses contacting you cuz they’re interested in the whole business model. Do you think it could work for more businesses? I

Lucy: think you’ve gotta be brave. I think well, Alex has done it at wilderness.

Lucy: He’s done pay you can because that is actually why we contacted, why we. Started talking in the first place. Mm-hmm. because he reached out. He’s so good at bringing people together and collaborating. So I’m gonna be quite honest if Alex is listening to this, I wouldn’t have reached out to him cuz my imposter syndrome, not a chance, you know so when he reached out to me to say, you know, really love what you’re doing we are gonna go do a little bit more pay as you can wilderness. So they’ve done it and we had a very frank discussion about things that work and things that don’t work. And we both had the same conclusions really. I’ve had quite a lot of hairdressers contact me.

Lucy: Mm-hmm. , there is actually a hairdresser in Leeds that’s doing it because this quite funny story actually, she saw me doing it on TikTok, started doing it. She was on the Jeremy Vine show talking about pay as you can just before me. And she [00:59:00] said, oh yeah, there was a bakery. I saw her on TikTok didn’t mention my name.

Lucy: And I came on next. I reached out to her on t Instagram, and I said, oh, and she’s like, oh yeah, it was you. I couldn’t think what you were called. And I was like, Hmm, great. Yeah, so there’s, I’ve had a couple of hairdressers, a couple of a couple of websites reached out to me cuz pairs, you can’t quite easy online because you haven’t got that face-to-face transaction, you know?

Lucy: But I’ve been asked a lot of times, would I do my baked goods online? Pay as you can. And the answer is a big flat no because that is when you would see advantages being taken, I think. Yeah. Because I dabbled with it a little bit. Mm-hmm. And it was actually quite shocking, let’s say nobody paid above the minimum. So that to me was a very small micro experiment,

Carl: I suppose if you make any, the effort to come to the shop. Yeah.

Lucy: And what we do here is it’s not. It is about the cake. But people come here and they tell their life stories and I tell them my life story for the millionth time, and we’ll sit on the sofa and have a cup of tea.

Lucy: A lot of hugging goes on here. A lot of kind of, I’ve had women that have had babies and now they’re coming in with the baby and talking about motherhood. Single dads coming in and talk about their experiences. People just come in here and open up. I dunno why, but they’re just here

Liam: because of you.

Lucy: I never shut up.. Oh, God. It’s her run. Yeah. So this place, and what I’m looking to do in the future is I’m looking for some unfortunately does all come down to pound, shillings and pence, doesn’t it? Mm-hmm. , and I’m looking to. Been speaking to quite a few customers and they’ve been talking about how loneliness working at home is quite a thing, that they’re on Zoom all day, they’re not actually communicating, and they just miss human company and they feel like they’ve maybe not lost their friends, but they’ve lost contact with their social circles.

Lucy: Mm-hmm. So we’ve said that we might set up like a small kind of friendship circle here once a week. So invite a local food business in to like, do some food for us. Just have a chat. Maybe even [01:01:00] a silly quiz, I don’t know. But just provide a space for people to come and communicate on a human level instead of across the but again, that’s money cuz this is where I’m stupid.

Lucy: I would do that. I’ll be just like, oh by the way, come along next week and I’ll get Stirchley Dumpings in to make all these dumplings. And I’ll be thinking, where’s the 200 quid gonna come from Lucy? Yeah. Put it on your credit card. It’ll be fine. They’ll enjoy it. That’s what goes on in my mind. But I have to be very realistic now.

Lucy: So there is some, I’ve got a neighbourhood officer with Birmingham City Council. Birmingham City Council at the moment are apparently really looking towards community regeneration and community warming at the moment. So there’s little, little pots of money they always say. So you never get your hopes up.

Lucy: Mm-hmm. So looking towards doing something like that,

Liam: Have you had anyone or any business or reach out to try and like, support you? So you don’t, you don’t have to name them. It’s fine.

Lucy: There’s somebody So there’s a business in they’re like a PR, communications payroll company, and their director really loves what I’m doing because he’s been brought up in similar situations to me and some of the people that we help.

Lucy: And they paid our rent at Christmas, which was an absolute God send. Like I couldn’t have thanked him anymore if I could have tried. But the majority of our finances come from baked, good sales. Yeah. That’s where they come from. We don’t rely on or expect donations if a donation comes through. I am absolutely flawed.

Liam: I was about to say, you’d welcome it there like so if anyone’s listening.

Lucy: Yeah, I, yeah. It’s really hard, isn’t it? You don’t, you know, cuz we’re a CIC, we’re a community interest company. What that means is our profits are, anything all has to go back into the community. And we had to do a document that goes after the CIC commission every year to prove that we were actually as highly regulated as a charity.

Lucy: But the difference is, I am the director and can take a salary. Whereas in a charity, you’d have a group of trustees that were all volunteers. Yeah. And when we looked at structures for the business, I was not in a [01:03:00] position to step away and become a trustee because this, I’ve been working towards this for a long time and to step away from it and go, yeah, it’s all yours now, you know?

Lucy: Mm-hmm. , I’ll just become the CIO and skim some money off it. Didn’t sit well with me. So, you know, donations are great if we get them, but if we don’t, we plough on through.

Liam: So the best way, if anyone’s listening and wants to support, is to come down and buy cakes,

Lucy: Absolutely.

Carl: What a win. . , you get cake at the end of it it’s always gonna go well,

Lucy: so a lot of what I do here like you might have noticed sitting in a room which is majority pink with rainbow brights. I take a lot of my inspiration from pop culture and like, you know, we just kind of Blobby bar.

Liam: But I, I laugh because you know a lot of kids and I won’t know who Blobby is.

Lucy: Do you know it’s so much fun their parents they bring them in and they buy ’em a Blobby biscuit and they say, I’m gonna make him watch it on YouTube tonight. And I say, come back with feedback. You know, I dunno just something about Mr blobby was just so I was about 12 when he came out. Yeah. And I just thought it was just the funniest thing I’d ever seen in my life.

Lucy: Would we get, would they get away with it today? Not to chance.

Carl: It’s just pure joy. Yeah. As soon as you, as soon as I see him, on tele, I’m instantly happy. And I know I’m about to laugh, as he can do anything it’s insane,

Lucy: This is a breaking bread, kind of exclusive, but at Christmas, we did our free grotto at Easter we are doing another similar thing, an Easter egg hunt, but we do not want the Easter Bunny, the Easter Bunny’s everywhere.

Lucy: We are gonna do a blob Easter. Nice. So we’ve booked a Mr Blobby to come down for a couple of days. I’ve told, you know, hands off Mr Blobby. So, I mean, it’s gonna be so camp, I can’t wait. . We are gonna have Mr Blobby here for a couple of days at Easter, and that is exactly what Lil’s Parlor is trying to do, is create joy and Mr Blobby creates joy. Cliff Richard’s calendars, create joy, you know, whatever brings you joy. , take it at this time. Just take it As long as it’s legal, take it. . [01:05:00] Yeah.

Liam: Will that be something people have to book

Lucy: No I mean, Mr Blobby, I think he’s just gonna be, you know, it’s niche. So, I’m not sure what the take-up, I can guarantee it’ll probably be most people over 25 that turn up to that one.

Lucy: But it’s just joy, isn’t it? So it won’t be a book on no. I’ll just put an announcement on our Instagram when it’s gonna be I promise he won’t kick anyone in the shins. . I’ve had to tell the person that’s doing Mr Blobby, you know? I know. It’s really cool to like act like Mr Blobby, but it’s 2023 now.

Carl: Yeah, I don’t know. He’s gotta throw a table of something. over? dive onto something. Oh,

Lucy: oh God. The costume’s terrible. It’s a, it’s an inflatable one with inflatable gloves. Sorry, what am I saying? Costume, Mr Blobby by real. He lives with Santa, the Easter Bunny and the leprechauns, what am I saying he’s flying down. Yeah, he is.

Lucy: Didn’t he have a plane? I’m sure he had a blob-mobile he had everything. I know there was definitely a blob-mobile.

Liam: He had a Christmas number one. [01:06:00]

Lucy: Oh, I’m gonna tell you this because this is just, sorry, Marianne. So my best friend Marianne, my friend Marianne has been my best friend since we were 11. Marianne has a manual wheelchair and we did her wheelchair with her permission as the blob-mobile

Lucy: So all through like year seven and eight, . Oh, poor Marianne. What are we like? I bet she hated it. I bet she really did not. I bet she was like, what are they doing to me? But we were obsessed with Mr Blobby. It’s all over our books. Everything. Yeah. I should have a tattoo of him, really? But yeah,

Carl: why not? Why not? It’s a good idea. My next one, ,

Lucy: get it. Wanna see the evidence.

Liam: Is there any chance of you expanding and doing more Lil’s parlours all over Birmingham or

Lucy: . That would be amazing. But with expansion comes business rates,. So looking at the practicality, so I’ve got a. I’ve got a van. And the idea with the van is to get van to as many areas as possible.

Lucy: Van went really well. People crowdfunded it. It was amazing. We got the van [01:07:00] and then Birmingham City Council stepped in and went where’s your street food trading license? And I was like, but we’re gonna be going in like private car parks. And they said, no, no, no, no. 5,000 pounds street food license. So actually that is again, another exclusive why Audrey. is In her little compounds, and I’m having to look very seriously at whether it’s a viable option or not, is because they want a lot of money off me. So essentially they’re asking for a license for me to be able to go and give food to the poorest areas of Birmingham. Jesus.

Lucy: There you go.

Liam: Is that five grand a year or just,

Lucy: yeah, but you can pay it. You can pay it quarterly. Very helpful. .

Carl: I was just, I thought you could in car parks.

Lucy: No, never. It’s really tricky. So I spoke to a police person about this, and if you are in a private car park and you have a written agreement with, say, the social club a, signed, written agreement, that you are there on a private arrangement, you don’t need the license.

Lucy: However, if somebody walks in off the street who has not made an appointment and buys something off you, you are then in whatever of this contract, and then they can give you the thousand pounds on spot. Oh, Jesus. So, but it’s really, it’s a really tough one, isn’t it? Because I think if you were gonna trade, I mean I don’t know this, people can reach out and let me know cuz I’ve not ever done street food trading.

Lucy: But I think if you trade somewhere, like with Digbeth dining club, I think they cover that. You don’t, you know, you are covered by, I dunno what the arrangement is there, but I guess there’s some sort of financial exchange between one and the other. So you are, you’re safe there. Ice cream trucks and stuff are supposed to have these licenses.

Lucy: I don’t believe for one minute they do. No, it’s, I’m just too much of a goodie two shoes cuz if I got copped, yeah. But with the street licenses as well. Say I wanted to go to Wales, I’d need to get one with Cymru and then if I wanted to go to Lancashire, I get one, but Birmingham and London are the most expensive licenses in the UK about a fiver in Wales for a week.

Lucy: [01:09:00] Whereas here it’s ridiculous supply and demand, isn’t it?

Carl: you’d think they’d look at the case-by-case basis, wouldn’t you?

Liam: Yeah. Have you spoken, you haven’t spoken to NCASS? You know, the national caterers association.

Lucy: Am a member of NCAASS. Actually,

Liam: it’d definitely be worth speaking to Alan and Mark. Yeah, they’re really

Liam: cool with,

Lucy: they really helped me last week with a legal problem. Yeah, I just rang them and I said, look, I desperately need to speak to a solicitor that deals with something quite special, and within 10 minutes they’ve got me on the phone to someone. So that membership is worth every single penny. Oh, and that book, the bible. . It’s just, I look forward to it. Coming. It’s a nice fresh-smelling folder.

Lucy: But yeah, and NCASS are brilliant and they’re such nice people. And Birmingham. Yeah, Brummies. Yeah.

Liam: Yeah. It’s definitely worth chatting to ’em though, about that. Yeah. If, if you haven’t already, you know,

Lucy: just sometimes feel, and I think I’ve heard on your podcast, it’s like whenever you’re in the business, you tend to come up just one thing after another, like dum another wall and then you kind of go running again.

Lucy: Oh, the wall hits you in the face and it’s just, it’s been a bit like that with the van, but I’ll get there. It’s not going [01:10:00] anywhere. It’s beautiful. Went out for a ride in its day. Cause I have to get the battery every week to kind of make sure it keeps going. Of course. It’s so nice. Yeah. It’s so beautiful and so unusual because it’s not normal, literally just lift the boot up, serve out the boot.

Lucy: Cause we don’t need anything special. We’ve got our little hand-washing sink set up and everything. Mm-hmm. . It’s all ready to go. It’s. politics as usual.

Liam: It’s ridiculous. It’s mad, doesn’t it? ridiculous. Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?

Lucy: No, not really. Just wanna thank you for having me on. I do appreciate it cuz like I was saying, I, I often feel as if I’m a little bit unheard, but that’s probably my fault, not anybody else’s. Cuz when you’ve got your head in what you’re doing, the time to network and, you know, it’s just not there for me. So, no, I do appreciate you coming.

Liam: You know, we’ve been trying to get you on for, we were talking about getting you on for ages and then it just never gets around.

Carl: But no, it’s been about a year, isn’t it?

Liam: We’re like massive fans of what you do.

Liam: Oh, thank you. Thank you. And you’re welcome anytime for a Blobby bar or a cliff bar.

Liam: You know What? And you want in [01:11:00] the summer coming up with my daughter

Lucy: Oh yeah do God, so your team summer, are you?

Liam: Yeah. ice cream machine. It’s funny, I didn’t realize this is where you were when I thought it was like the middle of Northfield and I was worried about parking, but I, I pass it all the time. I didn’t realize

Lucy: you can actually hire this space for 100 English pounds. Bring a party of people in and eat as much ice cream as you like for an hour

Liam: bargain. But you would be broke.

Lucy: No, I wouldn’t. Nobody’s finished a tank yet, so there you go. There’s a challenge for you. I reckon I’ll get a good go. I’m setting it here. I’ve come in and there have been gentlemen, always men green around the gill sat on that sofa like I’m done. I tried, but I’m done. So.

Liam: I talk a game, but that would be me as well.

Carl: Yeah, yeah, you would.

Lucy: Cause it’s not, you can get different types of soft serve, but the soft serve that we use here is not just out of a carton. It’s made from double cream and it’s really really rich stuff. So you know. It is. And the machine we’ve got doesn’t put any [01:12:00] air in either.

Lucy: So you know, when you get the ice cream, it all goes down your arm. Cause it’s just air. Yeah, yeah. So you’ve got solid soft serve here and it’s, it destroys people. So you’re very welcome to come and see how many

Liam: You ever been to Ireland?.

Lucy: I haven’t, I would love to

Liam: like every petrol station does soft serve, it’s like you just said, like it’s as solid as anything.

Lucy: Nice. So much. Nice. And you have green sauce in Ireland, don’t you? Green sauce. Yeah. Yeah, I know that because last summer, somebody said, oh, we’ve been looking for some green sauce. And I said, what’s it taste like? And they said, lime.

Lucy: So we’ve got some. And they came back every week. They’re like, thank you for getting green sauce. So we do green sauce here now. Awesome. Any population,

Liam: but even like every newsagent does it, everything. it’s weird. It’s just a normal thing. Never have a dessert in a restaurant. You just go, Nah, I’ll just go down the shop and get a 99. That’s what they call it. Sounds good. Get a cone. Take me there.

Liam: I’ve lulled you into, a false sense of security. Yeah, cuz we do Carl’s questions just to finish things up with a little bit of fun. Oh, that’s all right. Nothing serious.

Carl: Super easy, you probably know the answers already.

Carl: Favorite movie.

Lucy: Oh God. This is England.

Carl: Good choice. I don’t think anyone said that yet. I’m surprised no one has said that actually.

Liam: Yeah. The original one or which one? The original one.

Carl: Film. There’s only one film? And the rest are series as well. It’s the series is unbelievable.

Carl: That’s the next question. What’s your favourite TV show?? This is England 86?

Lucy: No, actually it’s Eastenders. A little bit more depressive. No, I’ve watched Eastenders since it came out when I was four. And yeah. But this is England and I love Mike Lee. I love any kind of kitchen sinky kind of stuff. That’s my, it’s my vibe Nice n happy

Carl: what’s your favourite band?

Lucy: Oh, this is where I’ve become so uncool. It’s unbelievable. Mm. You know what, this is probably not even ironic. Probably from everything that I’ve had in my life, it would be The Beatles probably kind.

Carl: No, that’s good. I thought you were gonna say something really bad. I love The Beatles.

Lucy: No, no, no. I’m just trying to think who has inspired me the most.

Carl: Thought You were gonna be like top loader, the table would have gone over.

Lucy: Kid Rock? I watched the Pamela Anderson thing last night. I forgot she married him. I was like, my God, she married. Kid Rock as well. Wow.

Carl: What’s your favourite big fast-food chain?

Lucy: McDonald’s? Didn’t even have to think about that. Yeah,

Liam: What do you order?

Lucy: I have a chicken sandwich with extra onions, large fries, a strawberry milkshake and apple pie. I didn’t even have to think about that either. Nice. I collect McDonald’s toys, so the eighties and nineties McDonald’s toys and, yeah.

Liam: Oh, remember the transformer’s amazing class, weren’t they?

Lucy: They’re the ones I’ve got in there. I’ve got the fries, the nuggets. I think I love McDonald’s so much because when I was a kid, boy was it a treat! Yes. We went to McDonald’s on Kings Heath, High Street you were winning, and it was like once a year if that.

Carl: Yeah, my daughter gets it. If I just can’t be arsed to go the kitchen,

Lucy: my niece and nephew get two a week. He has nine nuggets now. He’s only seven.

Liam: That’s the going rate for seven-year-olds.

Lucy: I’m like, I had a happy meal until I was 15 and I was happy about it.

Carl: It’s my side dish [01:15:00] now. Nuggets. It’s 20 nuggets

Lucy: cheese and garlic bites for me at the moment. Side dish,

Carl: no. Nice. Do you have a book you’d recommend for baking?

Lucy: You’ve put me on the spot because I’m gonna be able to, there’s a book by not Raymond Blanc, his father. Oh, Michel Roux. No, no Raymond blanc’s Dad!!.

Liam: I thought you said there. Michel Roux

Lucy: No, it’s Michel Roux’s dad.

Lucy: It’s Michel Roux’s dad. Yeah. His dad wrote a book about pastry.

Liam: Yeah, I’ve got that thought you were gonna say that. Yeah, that’s the book I would recommend. He does pastry eggs and pasta, I think.

Lucy: Exactly. Yeah. And it’s really, really basic. And if you ever, you know, it’s where I learnt to make rough puff puff pastry.

Lucy: And also it’s a bit there. a book that was Mrs Beaton’s Victorian cookery books really good as well. And also, if ever you’re in a charity shop and you see something like the O Level Guide to Cookery. Yeah, it was, it’s really old-fashioned, but it’ll tell you how to make a roux soup [01:16:00] sauce. Really basic stuff, but really good for someone that wants to learn how to cook.

Carl: Yeah. I’m mad for Charity Shop Cookbook.

Carl: I’m not gonna ask that one.

Liam: You can’t read your own writing

Carl: no, the question is stuck. That one stood out. The one that I’m not allowed to ask anyone. What’s your favourite theme tune to a TV show?

Lucy: favourite? I’m not gonna say Mr Blobby, the original Grange Hill because when’s my 30th birthday. My husband is a bit of, a kind of amateur DJ. But he wouldn’t like me saying, amateur.

Lucy: He is really good at it. made me like a mix of all eighties theme tunes, all to the same kind of underbelly of Grange Hill, and it was brilliant. Oh, nice. Oh yeah. We had Geordie Racer and pigeon Street and all of them. Yeah. So Grange Hill,

Carl: here you go. I’m glad to ask. Now I’m bringing this question back.

Liam: Why did we get rid of it? we laughed you out of it because I think the story is funny cause. Carl wrote it when he got home drunk one night. Yeah. And then forgot that he wrote it and then like, when he was doing his questions.

Lucy: I bet that [01:17:00] put if, if you, if you’re working with someone that’s quite serious, I imagine that could curve ball them a little bit.

Carl: it did. I think. I think that’s when I first asked it. Yeah. . That’s why it didn’t get asked again

Lucy: . Maybe you gotta live your life as a, as a, as a laugh really.

Carl: Well, that’s what the questions are. They’re just a bit of fun. Might as well.

Lucy: I’m impressed on the McDonald’s. I’m gonna go show you some of them, are we finished?. No, no.

Liam: Do you know what I was gonna say? I’ve only just realized.

Lucy: Gonna show you on McDonald’s toys. ,

Liam: are you, are you bringing the podcast back or?

Lucy: My podcast, she’s a very greedy girl, was something that I attempted to do. Loved it. Hated editing it cuz I had to keep listening to myself. Believe it or not, don’t actually want to hear that.

Lucy: So now I just do a Patreon-only version, which is on my Patreon channel. And I think we’ve got like a couple of episodes on there. But Patreon is for the real fans. Like, you’re just gonna listen to me going on and on, you know, for a couple of quid a month. But I’m very thankful to those people.

Liam: I’ll put the link in. Yeah. Yeah. People can subscribe to that.

Lucy: You guys should get one.

Liam: I’ve just done the buy me a coffee, but I don’t really like it. Yeah, I didn’t realize it. It was like at a five, a minimum. Yeah, that’s a bit steep, man. I dunno.

Lucy: See, these are the questions. I have to go through with Pay as you can every single day. Like what’s acceptable,

Liam: because I do subscribe to some like blind boy subscribe to his patreon. Yeah. I’ve listened to his thing every week religiously, so I’m like, you know, he’s worth a fiver mm-hmm

Lucy: Patreon starts at one pound or $1 I think a month, which works out about 76 p.

Liam: But I like the coffee thing because you could just do a one-off.

Liam: So you just thought Exactly. If you’ve ever listened to us and thought, yeah, I’d like to buy them, lads, a coffee, let’s get ’em a coffee and chuck us three quid, like, three quid feels better than I five. Is it like, I dunno if I’m just tight. No,

Carl: no, I’m with you,

Lucy: yeah. I think, no. I think when you’re creative it is very difficult to put a price on your own work.

Lucy: Yeah. Yeah. You’ll often find that people find a lot more value in what you’re doing than what you see yourself. I’ve definitely found that. Cause I didn’t think anyone would become a patron of me, and they did so. What, like 19 now. Exciting, but that’s like two quid a month

Carl: Awesome. Brilliant. Thank you, Lucy.

Liam: You can show us the toys now.

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