Brace's Bakery is a Crumlin-based Welsh

bakery A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, donuts, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who w ...

and bakery products brand.

Founders

Born in Abercarn, George Brace, an engine house driver at the

Cambrian Colliery The Cambrian Colliery was a large coal mine that operated between 1872 and 1967 near Clydach Vale in the Rhondda Valley, south Wales. It is notable for its huge production and for two infamous explosion disasters, in 1905 and 1965, in which a tota ...

in Clydach Vale, started with a loan from his family a small bakery in 1902 in

Pontllanfraith Pontllanfraith ( cy, Pontllanfraith ) is a large village and community located in the Sirhowy Valley in Caerphilly County Borough, Wales, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. It is situated adjacent to the town of Blackwood, with t ...

. Worked by his family, George continued to work at the colliery until the 1905 mining disaster which killed 35 men, after which George left the mining industry and started to build his bakery business. George and his wife had five sons and two daughters, raised in a house next to the bakery with the shop at the front of it, called Cambrian House, in Pontllanfraith Monmouthshire.

William Brace William Brace (23 September 1865 – 12 October 1947) was a Welsh trade unionist and Liberal and Labour politician. Early life and career Born in Risca, in the coal-mining district of Monmouthshire, he was one of six children of Thomas and A ...

, George's brother, was a miners' activist who was elected an MP in

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

for South Glamorganshire within the Lloyd George government, and from 1918 sat for

Abertillery Abertillery (; cy, Abertyleri) is a town and a community of the Ebbw Fach valley in the historic county of Monmouthshire, Wales. Following local government reorganisation it became part of the Blaenau Gwent County Borough administrative area ...

. In 1919 William persuaded the then owners of

Oakdale Colliery Oakdale Colliery was a coal mine located in the Sirhowy Valley, one of the valleys of South Wales. In the early years of the twentieth century the need for coal was growing both in America and Europe, and local business men in Wales were looking f ...

, the

Tredegar Iron and Coal Company : ''For the ironworks in the US state of Virginia, see Tredegar Iron Works.'' Tredegar Iron and Coal Company was an important 19th century ironworks in Tredegar, Wales, which due to its need for coke became a major developer of coal mines and p ...

to hand the franchise of the bakery in the village over to George's eldest son, Ernest, who had just left the Royal Flying Corps after service in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. After this success, George persuaded each of his children to start bakeries in various towns and villages across the South Wales Valleys. Ernest the eldest son successfully built his business in Oakdale, and in the late 1930s his business bought his father's business, George Brace & Sons. After Ernest's retirement, he passed the business on to his son Colin, who subsequently passed the running of the business on to his sons, Mark and Jonathan Brace.

Expansion

Mark and Jonathan Brace expanded the company, closing the old Bakery in Oakdale in 1989 and expanding their Croespenmaen factory from to . Changing the business from a local baker with shops and vans, to a regional bread manufacturer the "Number 1" bread brand in South Wales and the West Country and also supplying some products nationally. In 2004 Brace's purchased another factory unit one mile away and invested £10 million installing the most up to date plant bakery, which can produce up to 900,000 loaves a week. Brace's operates plants in Croespenmaen and Pen-y-Fan Industrial Estate within a mile of each other near Blackwood, and in February 2011 bought an existing facility in

Rogerstone Rogerstone ( cy, Tŷ du, meaning "Black house") is a large village and community (parish) in Newport, Wales. The area is governed by Newport City Council. The village falls within the ancient parish of Bassaleg and historic county of Monmout ...

. The Rogerstone site was closed in 2017 and rented to another Baking company. In 2011, Brace's came 57th on the

Price Waterhouse Coopers PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...

/'' Sunday Times''

Profit Track 100 The Sunday Times Profit Track 100 is an annual league table published in association with The Sunday Times newspaper in the UK. It ranks Britain’s 100 private companies with the fastest-growing profits over their last three years. It is publis ...

survey.

Exports

Braces Bakery started exporting their bread to Europe in 2011 through international export company, Foodlynx. The exports of Braces Bread grew dramatically in 2012. Braces Bread can now be found in Spain, Portugal, Malta, Greece and Cyprus and is distributed to many hotels and restaurants by European Foodservice Companies as well as being sold in European supermarkets.

References

{{reflist

External links

Home page
Food and drink companies of Wales Bakeries of the United Kingdom Family-owned companies of the United Kingdom Privately held companies of Wales