A DESIGNER menswear company with sights on international success has set up home in the Forest.

Kear & Ku is being launched by Dean businessman and former bakery tycoon Harry Kear who will be opening the first of three shops next month.

The brand's nerve centre for design and administration will be at Edenwall Farm in Coleford and the company will be also be taking on a warehouse at the Vantage Point Business Park in Mitcheldean.

Harry made his name in a family baking business – an empire that employed 1,100 people and cornered 10 per cent of the UK bread market at its height.

He was also in the leisure industry having owned the Speech House Hotel, Forest Hills Golf Club and Bell's Hotel in Coleford.

Despite moving into unchartered territory, he insists that his new venture was no different from selling a loaf of bread.

"People judge bread on how it feels in their mouth and with clothes it is how they feel to the touch," he said.