Jones' Village Bakery (or simply Village Bakery) is a Welsh brand of bread, pies and

baked goods Baking is a method of preparing food that uses dry heat, typically in an oven, but can also be done in hot ashes, or on hot stones. The most common baked item is bread but many other types of foods can be baked. Heat is gradually transferred ...

made in

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

and sold throughout Wales and the bordering regions of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The bakery dates to 1934, with the brand established in 1964. The brand has three bakeries, one in

Minera Minera ( cy, Mwynglawdd; ) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It adjoins the village of Coedpoeth. The community, which in addition to Minera village includes a number of smaller hamlets such as Gwynfryn and New Brigh ...

and two in

Wrexham Industrial Estate Wrexham Industrial Estate ( Welsh: ) is a well defined industrial area in Wrexham. It is sited on the eastern outskirts of the city and 2.5 miles from the centre of Wrexham. Originally the site of a World War II munitions factory, the estate la ...

Description

The brand is operated by three separate companies, corresponding to its three bakeries, "The Village Bakery (Coedpoeth) Limited", "The Village Bakery (Wrexham) Limited" and "The Village Bakery (Nutrition) Limited" (for Gluten-free products). The brand was formerly branded and may still be referred to as the "Jones' Village Bakery". The bakery sells bread and baked goods to various supermarkets and independent retailers in Wales. The brand can also be found in the neighbouring

English counties The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...

of Cheshire,

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

and

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wi ...

. The supermarkets include

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

SPAR SPAR, originally DESPAR, styled as DE SPAR, is a Dutch multinational that provides branding, supplies and support services for independently owned and operated food retail stores. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932, by Adriaan van Well, ...

Co-op A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

, and

Asda Asda Stores Ltd. () (often styled as ASDA) is a British supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Leeds, England. The company was founded in 1949 when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of Yorks ...

. The bakery employed 520 people in 2020. The brand is also exported to supermarkets in

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

, and independent retailers in

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

and

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

. The bakery formerly operated stores in Wrexham,

Rhosllanerchrugog RhosllanerchrugogDavies, Jenkins and Baines (eds) ''The Welsh Academy Encyclopedia of Wales'', 2008, p.752 (also spelled Rhosllannerchrugog, or simply Rhos) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It lies within the histor ...

Llangollen Llangollen () is a town and community, situated on the River Dee, in Denbighshire, Wales. Its riverside location forms the edge of the Berwyn range, and the Dee Valley section of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Bea ...

Ruthin Ruthin ( ; cy, Rhuthun) is a market town and community in Denbighshire, Wales, in the south of the Vale of Clwyd. It is Denbighshire's county town. The town, castle and St Peter's Square lie on a hill, skirted by villages such as Pwllglas and ...

and Holywell. These were later sold to

Nantwich Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture. ...

chain Chatwins. The brand has three bakeries, two in Wrexham Industrial Estate, and one in Minera. One of the two bakeries in Wrexham is its "nutrition" bakery, producing

Gluten-free A gluten-free diet (GFD) is a nutritional plan that strictly excludes gluten, which is a mixture of proteins found in wheat (and all of its species and hybrids, such as spelt, kamut, and triticale), as well as barley, rye, and oats. The inclus ...

products. The bakery states it is the largest Gluten-free bakery in the UK.

History

The original bakery was established in 1934 in Coedpoeth. The original small family bakery was bought by the Jones' family and established the Village Bakery in the same village in 1964. On 7 July 2015, the bakery opened a baking academy in Wrexham, with the opening attended by

Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to a ...

and

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall Camilla (born Camilla Rosemary Shand, later Parker Bowles, 17 July 1947) is Queen Consort of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms as the wife of King Charles III. She became queen consort on 8 September 2022, upon the ac ...

. The £3 million Baking Academy and Innovation Centre was the first of its kind in the UK. In June 2018, the bakery announced their £12 million scheme to convert a former wire factory on the Wrexham Industrial Estate into a "state-of-the-art" production facility. On 19 August 2019, their flagship factory on the Wrexham Industrial Estate was destroyed by a major fire. The alarm was raised at 8:41 am, and had no reported casualties. On 18 August 2021, a new facility on the former bakery site in the industrial site opened. The facility would, in addition to a bakery, holds the company's headquarters, a baking academy and innovation centre. In December 2021, the bakery launched a campaign to recruit 16-17 year olds in

apprenticeships Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

. Partnering with

Coleg Cambria Coleg Cambria in North East Wales is one of the UK's largest colleges, with over 7000 full-time and 20,000 part-time students, and has international links covering four continents. Coleg Cambria was created following the merger of Deeside College ...

. On 24 March 2022, the company signed a contract with American fast casual restaurant chain

Five Guys Five Guys Enterprises LLC (doing business as both Five Guys Burgers and Fries, and simply Five Guys) is an American fast food restaurant chain focused on hamburgers, hot dogs, and french fries, and headquartered in Lorton, Virginia, part of ...

to be the supplier of the chains buns and rolls using the chain's recipe. In May 2022, it was announced a £16 million bakery production line would be installed at the bakery's Wrexham Industrial Estate site.

Products

The brand makes various baked goods. These include: Pikelets (Crumpets), Scotch pancakes,

Welsh cake Welsh cakes ( cy, picau ar y maen, pice bach, cacennau cri or '), also bakestones or pics, are a traditional sweet bread in Wales. They have been popular since the late 19th century with the addition of fat, sugar and dried fruit to a longer stan ...

s, Brown tin bread, Sub

bread roll Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made food ...

barm cake A barm cake is a soft, round, flattish bread roll from North West England, traditionally leavened with barm. Chips are a popular filling, sold in most fish and chip shops in the North West of England and often called a chip barm. Another popu ...

s, steak pies,

sausage roll A sausage roll is a savoury pastry snack, popular in current and former Commonwealth nations, consisting of sausage meat wrapped in puffed pastry. Sausage rolls are sold at retail outlets and are also available from bakeries as a take-away food ...

s, and a

pasty A pasty () is a British baked pastry, a traditional variety of which is particularly associated with Cornwall, South West England, but has spread all over the British Isles. It is made by placing an uncooked filling, typically meat and vegetab ...

bakes/slices.

Awards

The company is the only one to have won the "Craft Bakery of the Year" three times. In 2013, it was crowned the fastest growing company in Wales, with the Fast Growth 50 award. In 2014, the company won "Bakery Manufacturer of the Year". In 2015, the bakery was awarded by

The Co-operative Group Co-operative Group Limited, trading as Co-op, is a British consumer co-operative with a group of retail businesses including food retail, wholesale, e-pharmacy, insurance and legal services, and funeral care. The Co-operative Group has over ...

as its "best community supplier" for 2015.

References

{{reflist Welsh brands Companies of Wales Food and drink companies established in 1934 1934 establishments in Wales