Sweet treat for Rotherham shoppers!

Urban Milk is a milkshake and waffle bar which opened on Monday 14 June at Eastwood Lane

It offers an astonishing 1,500 combinations of milkshake flavours and toppings, from the familiar vanilla and strawberry to more unusual lemon meringue and peanut butter flavours.

Waffles include fresh fruit, chocolate and strawberry sundaes, and customers can choose to eat in or takeaway.

Business owner Hayley Edge first saw the concept during a visit to London and decided that Rotherham would be an ideal location to set up her first business.

Hayley is a student in the third year of a Business & Enterprise Management degree course at Sheffield Hallam University, and has opened the shop as her year in industry but with a view to it continuing after she finishes her course.

"I first came across the idea of milkshake bars in London and loved the simplicity of it. Waffles again are simple but very different, so I decided to make my shop more than just a milkshake bar.

"It has taken a while to bring the business idea to life but university has now given me the skills and opportunity to make it happen."

Business Development Manager for Rotherham Borough Council, Tim O'Connell, said: "Urban Milk is a great example of the entrepreneurial spirit in Rotherham and joins the range of quality independent shops and market stalls which continue to make Rotherham an ideal shopping destination for those that are looking for something a bit different to the norm."

Alongside this, Sweet Greetings set up by David Hortup from Sheffield, was the winning entry to the regional round of Enterprise UK's "Make Your Mark in the Markets" competition.

The prize was to be located within a Markets Complex for two weeks and David picked Rotherham to launch his business.

Sweet Greetings provides personalised chocolate bars for all occasions and events, such as weddings, birthdays, anniversaries etc. The chocolate bars feature personalised wrappers with a message printed on the outside of the bar, and Sweet Greetings can put photos, personal messages or company logos on the wrapper to give the bars that personal touch.

David explains how he came up with the notion: "About three years ago I decided to design some chocolate bar wrappers to hand out to the children who were "trick or treating" at Halloween.

The children's parents got hold of them and wanted some for Christmas and the business just took off from there. People were asking me to design personalised chocolate wrappers for all sorts of occasions and the orders started to come in."

His business is now entered into the national final of the competition and following a successful time trading in Rotherham's Indoor Market, David has already taken money and orders for providing his novelty chocolates at future events.

He continued: "Taking part in 'Make Your Mark in the Markets' is a golden opportunity for the business, and has really helped propel it to the next level. Being located in the Markets is a great test ground to get real feedback from customers and see if the business idea can cut it."