Catherine Tyldesley cake gate: Corrie star’s birthday row explained after bakery hits out at free cake request

Coronation Street star Catherine Tyldesley has found herself at the centre of a bizarre storm - over her birthday cakes. 

The viral furore came after a bakery revealed that they had been asked by a PR firm to provide free cakes for her 40th in Manchester in exchange for “promotion” on social media and a mention in OK Magazine.

Taken aback by the proposal from NYRLND involving two cakes and 100 cup cakes, Three Little Birds Bakery in Keighley, West Yorkshire took to social media and kicked off the most unlikely of rows. 

What did bakery owner Rebecca Severs say? 

The Three Little Birds Bakery owner went viral with her response which included the cutting lines: “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.”

What did Catherine Tyldesley say in response? 

The Coronation Street star insisted she had no idea anyone had requested free cakes on her behalf, praising NYRLND as an “amazing company” that had “been completely misrepresented in this matter”.

“It’s utterly bizarre,” she added in a social media video. “I don't really know what to say. I hope the cake lady got the exposure she was craving whilst I've got journalists knocking on the front door while my kids are playing in the front room. Dead nice that.”

Who else has had their say on ‘cake gate’? 

Former Corrie star Nicola Thorp had some strong views on the row.  She felt some sympathy for both parties but also insisted it was her former co-star’s “duty” to insist people involved in the party were paid. 

The Nicola Rubinstein actress told The Talk: “I feel sorry first and foremost for the cake woman. She's brilliant. What she said is so clever. She was like, 'I can't pay my staff with heart emojis on Instagram'. She's absolutely right. She runs a business. 

'Why on earth should it be expected? Because this PR company are making money somehow. So they are getting money, they are just choosing not to pass it on to her.

“But it's also not Cath's fault, Catherine, because she wasn't aware of it and I believe that because this is just the way these PR companies work.”

She continued: “What Cath went on to say in that video, was you know, 'I use this company all the time and they have provided performers for me' etc, etc. 

“Well, it's your duty as the person who is having the party done for you, to know that everybody who turns up is being paid. 

“That's a moral duty and also from a PR perspective, you would want to make sure that this kind of thing wasn't happening.”