A NEW independent business has opened its doors in Ilminster, and we touched base with the owners to see how their first month and a half in business has been.
Clare White, 48, who has lived in Ilminster for the past 17-years, opened her new Ilminster shop, Betty’s, a coffee shop and deli, where the former Somerset Cheesecakery was based, in February 2026.
Here, customers can peruse a selection of beverages, wraps, salads, and sandwiches (the fillings and salads are made fresh), and baked goods, 75 per cent of which were baked by Clare herself, with many gluten-free options due to Clare having Coeliac Disease.
Clare is running this business alongside her other successful business, Bella’s, in Bridport, which she has co-run for the last 10 years, after it has been in her family for the past 20 years. However, both businesses are separate, not a chain.
Clare said her mother used to own it, then she and her sisters bought their mum out, and then Clare bought her sisters out and has run it with a silent partner for the last three years.
She has a team of eight people who run Bella’s, and she is there three days a week, but she always wanted to open something ‘closer to home.’
“I really wanted to be a part of the Ilminster community, so I have been looking for premises for quite a while, and they are quite hard to get, and then I saw the cheesecake shop came up, and it was perfect,” said Claire.
According to Clare, the past six weeks have been ‘really great’, she said: “Everyone has been really welcoming, and really friendly.”
She said: “I am really happy to be in Ilminster and I am actually blown away by the amount of positivity I have had from local customers and businesses, and hopefully we will get better and better.”
Originally, the shop was open Thursdays to Saturdays, but after recently hiring her friend of 10 years, Alice, the business is now also open on Wednesdays.
When asked how she has found it working in Betty's for the past few weeks, Alice said: “Really good. It's been really nice to help Clare and do something different.”
Clare said she has ‘always loved food’, and after working many years in retail management, after she had children and moved to the South West, she started working for her mum, and that is how her journey in hospitality began.
She said: “I think it’s in our blood. My sisters and I all love making food and baking cake, and that was it, really.”
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When asked how it feels to be a new independent business in the town, considering the financial pressures many others are facing at the moment, Clare said: “I am really excited, but it was also quite a bold move, and I am a little bit nervous.”
She added: “I am really passionate about small businesses, community, and creating jobs, and so far we have had really good support.”
In terms of her future vision for the space, Clare said: “I would like to build on the offer, so I have [the owner of] the Barrington Boar coming in to give me some samples. I am hoping to stock their bakery items.”
Clare also said in winter she may start making some soups, and wishes to evolve depending on what the community wants.
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