Clayton Park Bakery is set to more than double its manufacturing footprint with a new 60,000 sq ft production site in Clayton-le-Moors, Lancashire.
The expansion move for the 31-year-old supplier will cost around £10m, financed by its parent company James Hall & Co., with completion expected by autumn 2027.
Aimed at significantly growing business and improve its offer over the coming years, it involves the conversion of a former warehouse located opposite Clayton Park’s 20,000 sq ft site on Petre Road.
Clayton Park Bakery was founded by Barry Thomas in 1995, producing sausage rolls and meat pies to be sold at his family’s market stall three days a week. The company moved into its Petre Road factory in 2005, as it picked up supply deals with sports clubs across the Northwest as well as cafés, independent shops, schools, and hospitals, plus regional branches of Booths, Spar, and Asda.
Its current range features bread, morning goods, fresh cream cakes, ambient confectionery, pies, and other savoury goods, with over eight million units produced annually. Signature lines include the Potato & Butter Pie – described as “something of a Preston classic” – the Cheese & Jalapeno Pasty, the Pork & Chorizo Pie, and the Cumberland Style Deli Sausage Roll.
In 2011, Clayton Park Bakery was acquired by James Hall & Co., which then invested in a second 20,000 sq ft site in nearby Huncoat two years later. The business employs over 200 full-time staff across its two locations.
“It is over a decade since our last major expansion, and the time was right to expand again as we have outgrown the existing Huncoat site and need to keep up with customer demand,” commented founder and MD Thomas. “This move will help us streamline our current morning goods and bread operation while enabling us to invest in technology and improve our efficiency.”
James Hall & Co. is a fifth-generation family firm based in Preston, and one of Lancashire’s largest private employers. It operates as Spar UK’s primary retailer, wholesaler, and distributor for the North of England, and is also a major food manufacturer with a family of brands that includes Clayton Park Bakery, Fazila Foods, Ann Forshaw’s Alston Dairy, and Graham Eyes High Quality Butchers.
At its sprawling Preston depot is a production division that makes Clayton Park Kitchen-branded home replacement meals, raw meat, cooked meats, bacon, and fresh sandwiches.
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