Bexhillians want to have their cake and eat it too.

He said: "The beginning of last year was all doom and gloom with the threat of the credit crunch, and turnover in the summer months was drastically down. There was a lot of moaning about the town, but that doesn't do any good . If everybody keeps being negative, we then think negative, and I wanted to do something positive, something that would give the town and my business a boost."

Quentin opened 'Quinns' deli in April 2007, initially selling a range of quality meats, cheeses, preserves and food hampers, and had occasionally made fruit cakes and scones. It was on a day out with wife Tracey that Quentin recognised an opportunity to make and sell more cakes.

He said: "We'd already been making and selling a fruit cake, which went well, then one day me and Tracey were out having a coffee and we came across the Italian 'Torta della Nonna' (Grandma's) cake and it was delicious."

This outing gave Quentin and Tracey the idea that maybe what they needed to boost their business was a range of home-made cakes.

Inspired, Quentin, who said that he first got the baking bug at the tender age of three, said: "I decided to have a go at making my own version of the Torta della nonna cake. It's basically a sweet, rich pastry with a hint of orange filled with crme patisserie and ricotta cheese. What's great about the cake is that in Italy every Grandmother makes a different recipe with regional variations. I gave a taster of the cake to an Italian friend to try and he said it was good. "

Quinns started selling the Torta della Nonna cake and it was so successful that before long Quentin was being asked to increase his range and make other cakes.

His range now includes coffee and walnut, carrot, chocolate fudge brownies and a moist chocolate cake and he plans to add more variety in the summer months.

He said: "As soon as we displayed the cakes in the window they started selling and we realised that we've got something that people want."

The cakes are all hand-made using only the best natural ingredients that Quentin can find, and are all made with butter, not margarine.

He said: "Once the cakes began taking off the next thing was that customers said we should be serving teas and coffees, along with somewhere for them to sit to enjoy it all."

He added: "I gave this some thought and, as I am a coffee drinker, I decided that it was important that we served a really decent, good fair trade coffee and tea."

Adding a few small tables to the front of the deli, Quentin then sourced his coffee and tea from Farmers Direct.

And his delicious, rich flavoured coffee, which comes direct from a farmer in Honduras, is proving to be very popular with the locals. He said: "It's quality coffee from a family company; generations of coffee makers."

Quentin is hoping to serve cream teas in the summer, eventually expanding the cake side of the business further by adding a range of birthday and celebration cakes.

The credit crunch is still causing a headache for the business though, with the pound being so weak the cost of importing produce from Europe is expensive and Quentin said he'd ideally like to find more UK suppliers.

He said: "We're battling through, and to keep the continental flavour it's important to keep a range of imported products and to stock quality items that the supermarkets don't sell."