Peters was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

bakery chain. Peters became defunct in 2012 and all bakeries were sold to family-run business

Cooplands Cooplands (Coopland & Son (Scarborough) Ltd) is the second largest bakery chain in the UK with over 160 outlets and 12 cafes located primarily across Yorkshire, County Durham and Lincolnshire in the United Kingdom. Cooplands produces takeaway f ...

History

It was founded by Peter Knowles in 1966 with its first branch at Belmont in

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

; it had 71 branches across

North East England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authorit ...

. Its principal competitors are the

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

-based

Greggs Greggs plc is a British bakery chain. It specialises in savoury products such as bakes, sausage rolls, sandwiches and sweet items including doughnuts and vanilla slices. It is headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is listed on t ...

, who maintain branches in the same area. In 2003 its production plant at Durham was destroyed in a large fire forcing production to move to temporary accommodation in

Peterlee Peterlee is a town in County Durham, England. It lies between Sunderland to the north, Hartlepool to the south, the Durham Coast to the east and Durham to the west. It gained town status in 1948 under the New Towns Act 1946. The act also create ...

until September 2005 when a new £9 million facility was opened on the same site. In 2012 22 Peters Bakery stores across the North East region were sold to the family business Coopland and Son of Scarborough; this resulted in the closure of 34 stores. The Peters’ factory at the Dragonville Industrial Estate, in Durham, also transfer ownership to Cooplands the Peters' retail van business was being transferred over to Cooplands as well. When Peters' made the sale their financial statements showed it had a turnover of more than £12 million on the back of a network of 58 Peters’ Bakers stores across the North East region.

References

Retail companies established in 1966 Food and drink companies established in 1966 Bakeries of the United Kingdom Companies based in County Durham {{food-company-stub