A BIRMINGHAM mechanic has made a move from car parts to cupcakes and cappuccinos to find a new career.

Simon Manton has gone from washing cars at his local garage to owning his own cafe – with a spell working for celebrity chef Rick Stein along the way thrown in for good measure.

Running Manton’s Patisserie, in Newhall Street, Birmingham, happened more by chance than by design for the 34-year-old pastry expert.

As a car-mad youngster, Mr Manton went from having a part-time job at Rover dealership County Garages, in Castle Bromwich, to working there full-time and rising through the ranks to become parts department manager.

“While I was still at school I started working washing cars, I loved cars and still do,” said Mr Manton, who now lives in Hampton-in-Arden.

“Sadly County Garages closed down and went into receivership.

“I had never done any cooking really but my wife had worked in a kitchen and she showed me a few things – I liked it and it went from there.”

He enrolled on a two-year course at the Birmingham College of Food, Tourism & Creative Studies and became a full-time student, something which proved another shock to the system.

“It was hard work in a room of a hundred 16-year-olds, being a lot older, and though I wasn’t the only mature student I was the only one to finish the course,” he said.

Mr Manton spent the first year going through what he describes as the “normal chef route” before discovering his love of all things pastry-related and from there he never looked back. He initially worked in a couple of gastro pubs where he honed his pastry-making skills further.

“I enjoyed the pastry side, it was nicer work and the hours were better too,” he said. “I enjoy getting up early, starting my working day and finishing early.”

During his course Mr Manton also did a two-week work placement at Rick Stein’s Padstow food empire and after a week there he was offered a job – or two to be precise. From there Simon went to work at the Cacao Bean, at Moreton- in-Marsh, and honed his pastry-making skills further still under owner Silke Bruening.

After a short stint at bakery Bread Collection, in Knowle, Mr Manton finally got around to fulfilling his big ambition – to open his own patisserie and coffee shop.

“One day I walked through Balsall Common and popped in to every bank – I think there are seven. I got three telephone calls back and only one was interested.

“If it wasn’t for that one person I don’t think it would have happened.”

Manton’s opened in October 2010 and fulfilled Mr Manton’s vision of a coffee shop where everything was freshly made and he felt delivered “a bit of quality” to the Birmingham market, in particular getting away from the numerous coffee shop chains which he feels are “dull and dreary”.