Hundreds of jobs to be created by national bakery in Severn Beach (From Gazette Series)

Hundreds of jobs to be created by national bakery in Severn Beach

5:06pm Tuesday 30th June 2009 in

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HUNDREDS of jobs will be created by a national bakery that has invested £45 million in the county.

Warburtons, the UK’s leading independent baker, officially opened its new bakery in Severn Beach this week.

The company now employs around 140 staff at the new bakery, but the site is not running at full capacity and chairman of the company Jonathon Warburton said there is plenty of potential to expand, leading to the creation of an extra 300 jobs.

Mr Warburton said: "We didn’t buy a 12 acre site just to use half of it so certainly there is the capacity to expand and that may well happen in the next five years. This could create anything up to an additional 300 jobs."

The opening of the bakery was welcomed by county councillor for Pilning and Severn Beach, Peter Tyzack.

He said: "In the current economic climate it is very positive for a company to open up new premises and create more jobs in the area. On that estate Warburtons will be the first manufacturing company and I think that is a good thing as it is healthy for a mix of businesses to be on the estate."

Cllr Tyzack added: "Some residents had concerns about the noise produced by delivery vehicles but so far it hasn’t been a problem at all and Warburtons has proved an excellent company for working with the community."

Being part of the community is exactly what Warburtons is aiming for and at the opening ceremony today, children from Severn Beach Primary and St Peter's School were invited to see their artwork displayed in the corridors of the bakery.

Mr Warburton said: "Being a family run business our instinct is to support local charities and to be involved with the local community and we will continue to do that."

Warburtons currently produces 15 million products a week in the UK from the simple sliced loaf to the mighty crumpet.

The Severn Beach branch will produce 80,000 loaves a week to be sent out around the South West and Wales, but has the capacity to eventually bake 1.5 million products a week.

General manager at Severn Beach, David Williams, said: "If nothing else this bakery should bring some stability to the area in terms of employment. At the moment people eat lots of bread, and if that ever changes we will adapt to fit the market."