Artisan bakery on the rise with new North East riverside base

A new small batch bakery has begun selling to the public after opening its doors at new riverside premises in the North East.

Bread&, which has been supplying restaurants and cafes across the region, has launched its new click and collect service after launching its new base at the North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC) in Sunderland.

Run by Castle Eden family Steve Welch and son Rory together with their wives Jen and Helen, Bread& specialises in a range of loaves, handmade cakes and pastries.

The firm already supplies to North East eateries including Träkol and Backyard Bike Shop at the By the River Brewing Co container village in Gateshead, as well as the Bridge Tavern in Newcastle and The Urban Kitchen in Sunderland.

The bakery’s move to a unit at the BIC and investment in new equipment has allowed the firm to increase its capacity and explore new opportunities to sell directly to the public as well as to other venues.

Rory commented: “There’s a ready-made community here and that’s been really nice for us as we get set up. We are excited about becoming a part of daily life on the business park and have lots of seasonal ideas we’d like to try.

“We couldn’t believe our luck when we found this unit at the BIC. The location is perfect, overlooking the river and the Northern Spire Bridge. Being previously used as a lab, it was already fitted with air conditioning, extraction units, sinks, lighting and other facilities that meant we just had to plug in our fridge and oven and we were good to go.

“The fact that it was a lab and we see our bread making as a science, wasn’t lost on us!! We do affectionately refer to it as the Bread Lab. A big thank you to JK Property Consultants who helped us to find this fantastic location and to the amazing staff at the BIC who helped to get us settled and up and running as quickly as possible.

Donna Surtees, centre manager at the North East BIC, added: “Bread& have been an exciting addition to the BIC family and our ever-evolving site of skilled local businesses.

“It is fitting that their new unit is a former science lab as there is such a science to baking and we all look forward to sampling their experiments!”

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