North East baker starts production at Greggs’ former home

After securing the freehold of the Baker’s Yard site from Newcastle City Council and negotiating extended leases from Greggs, Adderstone’s £14m redevelopment opened in 2020.

Its newest tenant is the Pink Lane Bakery which offers high-quality, artisan, products from three sites in the Newcastle conurbation – Jesmond, Gosforth and its original home Pink Lane, close to the city’s railway station.

Founded by Neil Le Flohic in 2012 Pink Lane says its rapid growth makes the new production site a perfect location for producing its savoury products.

Co-owner Martha Jackson said: “We one of the region’s first artisan bakers and while our initial home in the old Gosforth fire station is a perfect location our booming sales meant we needed to find additional manufacturing space.

“We wanted to avoid defaulting to a large-scale, out-of-town, industrial, production facility where staff would never see the light of day.

“Consequently, Baker’s Yard is perfect for us with close proximity to our existing outlets and, of course, the link to Greggs is fantastic.

“Greggs is an amazing business – a superb regional success story – and, while we admire what they have done, we are different in so many ways.

“Our focus is on delivering the finest, premium products using the best local meats and ingredients. We are a high-quality, traditional, High-Street baker, and we do it well.”

“Our artisan breads, pastries and croissants are the shining stars of the business, sales are soaring and we have a fast-growing, loyal band of regulars.”

As Greggs continues to grow so, too, does Pink Lane. Its staff numbers have increased from six in 2019 to 53 – the equivalent of 32 full-time jobs – with some staff working part time.

The new site allows it to produce almost 3,000 of its popular pies and sausage rolls a week.

Using its in-house team Adderstone spent almost £100,000 on the bespoke fit-out of the new Pink Lane facilities, which are 2,228 sq ft and situated in Unit 23 of ‘The Pantry’.

In a nod of appreciation to its former owners Adderstone named the separate units on the four-acre Baker’s Yard site; The Stottie Shed, The Confectionery Store, The Chiller and The Pantry.

Ms Jackson added: “Adderstone are brilliant. They really get what we are doing and accommodated our needs to the letter. This is a perfect location for our business and we anticipate being in a position to open more North East outlets over the coming months and years.”

Ian Baggett, CEO and founder of Adderstone, said: “Our team has worked tirelessly over a number of years to regenerate a dilapidated estate into a dynamic and thriving local business hub.

“We love Pink Lane Bakery's back story and it's great to be able to play in role in supporting their future ambitions.

“Baker’s Yard is close to full occupancy and is becoming well-established as a dynamic and thriving local business hub.”

The four-acre Baker’s Yard development is now home to around 20 businesses including; Cleva, Stadler Rail, JC Consulting, Echo AM, Haus Distribution, Wave Direct and Verisure.