It’s the bizarre birthday cake row that’s gripping Britain.
Catherine Tyldesley, an actress best known for her work in ITV soap Coronation Street, has revealed that she has received “horrendous” online abuse after being accused of taking advantage of a small bakery in the pursuit of free cake.
NVRLND, an events company tasked with organizing a 40th birthday party for Tyldesley, approached Yorkshire-based Three Little Birds bakery with a request to make a “camp as tits” themed birthday cake and 100 cupcakes in exchange for social media promotion.
Three Little Birds owner Rebecca Severs posted a screenshot of NVRLND’s emailed request on her company’s Facebook page. She also uploaded her response, in which she said: “I’m so sorry to hear that your client has fallen on such hard times they can’t afford to pay small businesses for their products.
“Unfortunately, as my mortgage provider doesn’t take payment ‘in the form of promotion on their socials’, and my staff can’t feed their kids with exposure on Instagram, I’ll have to decline your very generous offer.”
Tabloid newspaper The Daily Mail revealed that Tyldesley was the celebrity behind the birthday bash in a story on Wednesday, prompting the actress to issue a response on her Instagram profile.
In a post titled “CAKE GATE – The Truth,” Tyldesley denied knowledge of the emails from NVRLND and praised the events company. “The abuse I have been receiving online is horrendous so hopefully this will put an end to it,” she said. “I genuinely do hope the bakery have got some exposure and receive lots of new orders! I’ve always supported local and small businesses.”
NVRLND told the Mail that its emails to Three Little Birds had been “completely misconstrued” and it would have covered all of the bakery’s expenses and costs. “Our aim is to connect small local businesses with the opportunity of growth,” NVRLND said, adding that it was also working on an “expenses-only basis.”
In a Facebook post, Three Little Birds said: “We are blown away by all your support and so happy to see that so many other people agree that small business shouldn’t be taken advantage of!”