Press Releases

September 28 2009

£16 million Greggs bakery officially opens

The UK's leading bakery retailer today officially opened its new factory in Openshaw, east Manchester.

The 750,000 sq ft building on Greenside Street off Ashton Old Road employs 220 people. Serving approximately 150 shops in the North West, each week the bakery produces a range of confectionary products including 85,000 doughnuts and distributes 200,000 pasties and 300,000 sausage rolls.

The relocation of the bakery was made possible through a joint initiative between Manchester City Council, New East Manchester, Greggs and the North West Regional Development Agency (NWDA).

Ian Pegg, Managing Director for Greggs said:" We have invested heavily in new equipment including some brand new ovens and have introduced a new, state of the art computerised dispatching system. For our staff we have a fantastic new restaurant with outdoor seating area and much improved office accommodation. This bakery reinforces our commitment to the North West and marks another milestone in our regional expansion. This high-tech manufacturing plant has already made a positive impact on our business in terms of significant productivity improvements which is extremely pleasing particularly in these challenging times."

Eddie Smith, chief executive of New East Manchester said: "It's great to see this impressive bakery up and running in its new home, safeguarding jobs for local people. Greggs is a major local employer and this brand new building acts as a symbol of the company's commitment to the area. This is an excellent example of joined-up regeneration where the public and private sector work in partnership for the benefit of the whole east Manchester community."

Damien Bourke, Policy and Partnership Manager at the NWDA, said:
"In this economic climate it is vital to safeguard jobs and continue to drive forward the economic regeneration of east Manchester. I am pleased that Greggs has made a decision to continue to invest in this area and that this relocation will enable significant regeneration in other parts of east Manchester."

For more details about New East Manchester visit www.neweastmanchester.com

Ends

Notes to editors:

New East Manchester (NEM) is an Urban Regeneration Company - a partnership between Manchester City Council, the national housing and regeneration agency Homes & Communities Agency and the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA). It is NEM's role to turn the Regeneration Framework into action, secure the required public and private funding, lead on specific major development projects and co-ordinate regeneration and renewal initiatives in the area.

Greggs is the UK's leading bakery retailer and with over 1,000 shops nationwide and serve over five million customers a week in Britain.

Two thirds of the business is in shop made sandwiches and freshly baked savouries such as pies, pasties and sausage rolls. These lines are complimented by a range of sweet products and a wide range of bread and rolls.

The business has divisional and central bakeries around the country supplying the shops in their surrounding areas.
They have eight divisions throughout the UK from Greggs of Scotland, to Greggs South-East with branches down to the south coast of England and have recently expanded into continental Europe with the opening of six branches in Belgium. They do not operate any franchise branches.
The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) is responsible for the sustainable economic development and regeneration of England's Northwest and has five key priorities: business, skills and education, people and jobs, infrastructure and quality of life. For further information visit www.nwda.co.uk or www.englandsnorthwest.com.