BBC Apprentice winner stirs up neighbourhood with bakery late-night licence

24 October 2022 James Twomey

By Joe Coughlan, Local Democracy Reporter

A former winner of TV show The Apprentice has ruffled some feathers in a neighbourhood after she applied to serve booze and play music in one of her bakeries until late into the evening.

Carina Lepore, who won the show in 2019, sent plans to Bromley council for her bakery in High Street, Beckenham, to stay open for events until 10pm.

But Ms Lepore said she was not turning the shop into a “nightclub and party destination”.

The bakery, Dough Artisan Bakehouse, first applied to extend its opening hours to midnight every day.

*Dough Artisan Bakehouse on Beckenham High Street in Bromley (Picture: Google Street View)*

But after complaints from locals, Ms Lepore cut back the hours to 10pm.

Ms Lepore said at a licensing meeting for Bromley council today that she felt the plans had been blown “massively out of context” by the objections, and that she saw the application as an “add-on service” for her current customers.

The businesswoman said she planned on holding wine evenings for locals and movie screenings for children.

She said: “If I could go back to the people that did object and tell them in person, I feel like they might be a bit more understanding as to what I would like to offer to Beckenham.”

The plans sent by Ms Lepore received 28 objections by locals, saying that the late-night drinking was “out of context” with the area and would cause an “untold public nuisance of noise”.

To summarise her case, Ms Lepore said: “I can’t speak for future tenants and I can’t speak for the past tenants because I’m not them. All I can do is speak for me and Dough, the brand that I represent, and the business partners that I walked in with that I will not do anything that is going to cause an incident.”

Ms Lepore won the 15th series of The Apprentice in 2019, with Lord Alan Sugar investing £250,000 into the businesswoman’s bakery.

She opened her first Dough bakery in Herne Hill in 2018, before opening a second store in Beckenham in 2020 after winning the show.

At the end of the meeting, the committee approved the application, allowing Dough Artisan Bakehouse in Beckenham to be open until 10pm inside and 9pm outside.

Pictured top: Carina Lepore during the National Television Awards at London’s O2 Arena (Picture: PA)