Muffins going to stop us in bakery bid

Published 28 Jan 2010 06:00 1 Comment

DUNBAR Community Bakery (DCB) members will have to rise to the challenge of finding an alternative venue for their vision - after talks with former High Street bread shop stalwarts Smiths crumbled.

DCB co-ordinators have been in discussions with the ex-baking family since July last year after it closed in November 2008 due to retirement.

But after months of negotiations both parties failed to come to an agreement with DCB chiefs, citing an inadequate lease as the main obstacle.

It is understood Smiths had hoped to tie down the would-be bakers to a short-term lease which DCB bosses said would not "represent value for money".

Two potential High Street premises are now being considered by DCB, which has amassed more than £50,000 in funds from 230 community shareholders as well as interest-free loans and grants.

"It's about finding the right premises for us," said retail expert Jane Wood, who heads up DCB. "It's critical that we find a place that is in the right location that allows us to make an impact and where we can get a return. We do not want premises on a short lease.

"Smiths would have been fantastic," she added, "but they were wanting to offer us a short lease or for us to purchase the building."

Ms Wood stressed that it was "critical" the company was up and running before October in time for the lucrative Christmas period. "We need to find premises in the next two months," she said. "We may look at premises where we can sell the bread but have an out-of-town site to bake it. We have to be flexible in terms of what's available in Dunbar."

Despite significant delays, Ms Wood insisted DCB management committee was determined to push ahead and establish what would be Scotland's first community bakery. "It's not an option not to do this," she said, "but we will need to have identifed premises in the next two months".

And she added: "We are appealing to everyone who shops in Dunbar to support the initiative. Dunbar 's last bakery was still trading profitably when it closed in November 2008.

"We are confident we can establish a financially viable business producing distinctive high-quality bread and other bakery goods, joining the other quality artisan bakeries operating in Scotland and continuing to build on East Lothian's wonderful reputation for quality produce."

The community project is backed by Enterprise Minister Jim Mather MP and county MSP Iain Gray.

"In these times of economic challenges we must look at new ways of re-invigorating our high streets using innovative models of business," said Mr Gray. "I support this drive by Dunbar's residential and business community to enrich and diversify the retail offer of High Street."

DCB would be run as a community enterprise with residents subscribing to take its products to provide a secure market.

Shares in the bakery are still available.

For more information visit www.dunbarcommunitybakery.org.uk

Tweet

Have your say. Post a comment on this article.

• 

  Danny
  Unregistered User
  Feb 25, 18:46
  Report comment

  Hi Website Administrator,
  
  We can fairly quickly promote your website to the top of the search rankings with no long term contracts!
  
  We can place your website on top of the Natural Listings on Google, Yahoo and MSN. Our Search Engine Optimization team delivers more top rankings then anyone else and we can prove it. We do not use "link farms" or "black hat" methods that Google and the other search engines frown upon and can use to de-list or ban your site. The techniques are proprietary, involving some valuable closely held trade secrets. Our prices are less then half of what other companies charge.
  
  We would be happy to send you a proposal using the top search phrases for your area of expertise. Please contact me at your convenience so we can start saving you some money.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Dannyrnleads52.ibs@gmail.com
  
  COMPLETE INTERNET MARKETING SOLUTION
  
  SEO - Link Building - Copyrighting - Web Designing - PHP
  
  Recommend?   Yes 0     No 0

Post a comment

Your Comment:

Registered users log in here

Username or email

Password

If you are registered with us, you can login here. If you are not registered, do so now.
Once logged in you wont have to complete word verification each time you post.

Prefer not to register?

Screen Name *required

Email (not displayed) *required

Usernames must be 4 - 20 characters. Registration only takes a few minutes. Registered users can also take part in competitions and other features of the site.

Word Verification:
Enter the text as shown.

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our News archives.

Follow @elcourier