New Teesside bakery will offer bread and careers for young people

A bakery, which has already made global headlines, is on a mission to make great bread and kick-start the careers of Teesside teenagers when it opens its new shop.

There was worldwide interest in Guisborough’s Brickyard Bakery after it invited people to bake their Christmas cakes in its ovens, provide a warm room for members of its community struggling with their fuel bills and make breakfasts for children on their exam day.

Now the not-for-profit Community Interest Company is about to open a second bakery - in Middlesbrough’s Dundas Shopping Centre - and owner Ed Hamilton-Trewhitt said there has been nothing like it before. As well as selling affordable artisan bread, pastries and savouries, Ed will be providing year-long paid internships for six young people who struggled at school.

“It’s for kids who don’t do well sitting behind desks and learning in conventional ways. But they respond fantastically to getting their hands dirty, working and producing something,” said the 55-year-old who was born in Redcar, left school with one qualification in metal work, worked in some of London’s top kitchens, cooked for royalty, opened restaurants, taught at college and studied at Teesside University.

As well as the interns, the bakery will employ six members of staff including teaching assistants. They will help the teenagers study for their qualifications in food hygiene and retail.

The Brickyard Bakery is moving into the unit vacated by the Cooplands Bakery earlier this year and its arrival completes a circle for Ed who started selling his bread eight years ago in the Dundas Indoor Market.

“Dundas is fantastic and it’s a great site for us. We see it is an important hub in Middlesbrough. I’m really excited about being involved in encouraging more and more people to go there.”

Richard Wilson - senior associate with Teesside commercial property agent Dodds Brown, which manages the Dundas Shopping Centre on behalf of its owner – said the arrival of the Brickyard Bakery marks an important step in the reinvention of Middlesbrough town centre.

“More and more people will be attracted to live and work there as the investment planned by the Middlesbrough Development Corporation takes effect. These new communities need services, amenities and shops on their doorstep if Middlesbrough follows the concept of the 15-minute city which town planners are already adopting throughout the UK and the rest of the world.”

He added: “With its strong community values, independent retailers like Brickyard Bakery are the very embodiment of this concept. Ed – and the other independents who I’m confident will follow his lead – are essential to build a new and much-needed identity for Middlesbrough.”

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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