Northampton bakery Oliver Adams closed two outlets, and will close nine in total. It has said it is restructuring, because some outlets are “losing money hand over fist”.

Oliver Adams, which has 27 bakeries in and around the Northampton area, as well as a headquarters in the town, closed one shop in Rugby and one in Daventry last week. It has now announced it is to close two further outlets in Northampton.

Mark Jarvis, managing director, said: “What is happening with the business is we are trying to restructure a little. There are a number of shops that aren’t profitable any more - it’s simple, we have just got to close them.”

The two Northampton shops that are to cease trading are the corner outlet in Wood Hill, opposite County Hall, and the store at 209 Wellingborough Road.

Jarvis said: “They are losing money hand over fist.”

Oliver Adams will continue to operate 18 outlets, including the bakery in Mercers Row and a second shop at the other end of Wellingborough Road, which Jarvis said was “doing very well”.

The bakery in Newport Pagnell will close as soon as the lease expires and the company will also not seek to renew leases on four already vacant units in the Birmingham area, which failed to make a trading impact in the city.

"Too many shops"

Jarvis said job losses were inevitable in the company. He added: “We just had too many shops close to each other in Northampton. If anything, they were taking business from each other.

“There will be some jobs lost, but knowing what we were planning we haven’t been replacing staff in recent times. We are transferring some people to other shops as well, so we are trying to minimise job losses as best we can.”

Jarvis said he had no intention to change the Oliver Adams brand as part of the restructure, and the company would continue to operate its factory in Gladstone Road. He added that the company would look at “refreshing the products” the brand offers.