Nuneaton's first artisan bakery forced to close

Owner: 'We have put our heart and our soul into it but we wanted to do the right thing by everyone'



Nuneaton's first artisan bakery has been forced to close its doors after losing thousands of pounds and failing to attract enough customers.

It has been less than a year since The Bakery first started offering freshly-made breads, cakes and pastries from its bespoke home in Harefield Road.

But, with a heavy and honest heart, Rich Bishop, who has owned the store since April, took the difficult decision to close.

He told CoventryLive they had made desperate attempts to stay open, such as offering new vegan products as well as deliveries, but they simply did not bring enough money in.

The final straw came at the weekend: "After we had closed as normal on Saturday we looked at the takings, we need £2,000 a week to open and we only took £450," Mr Bishop said.

"I sat down with the manager and we had a really difficult conversation, we couldn't keep swallowing the losses, we kept it going as best we could, for as long as we could.

"We didn't just want to disappear, rather than using what is left of the money to just pay bills and struggle through, we wanted to make sure that staff were paid and we could make sure that we tied up all of the loose ends.

"We tried to make it work, I know that a lot of traders in the town centre struggled last week but we could not do it any more.

"It was an incredibly difficult decision to make, a lot of us are so upset.

"We have had some amazing customers, the staff have been amazing too, we have put our heart and our soul into it but we wanted to do the right thing by everyone."

But there is one last chance for people to sample some of The Bakery's famed delights - at Nuneaton's Food Festival on Sunday, July 14.

"We are hoping to be able to have a stall there, I have a growing list of some of our favourites that customers would like to have one more time so hopefully we will see everyone there then," he concluded.

The Bakery was originally opened at Stockingford Community Centre and, due to its success, was moved to the town centre location.

It's a shame we're not more like the French when it comes to bread. - They really appreciate good tasting bread. In comparison, our bread is absolute garbage.

But I think trying this venture in Nuneaton was possibly a mistake. Maybe a more 'upmarket' area?