Oxfordshire-based Blake’s Kitchen has opened a new 9,000 sq ft centralised bakery and café at a site in Witney once occupied by Hobgoblin maker Wychwood Brewery.
The expansion move by the third-generation family-run firm is expected to create up to 15 new jobs, including in production and service. These will join a workforce of 56 working across three existing locations – its original site in the village of Clanfield, one at Soho Farmhouse near Chipping Norton, and another at the National Trust’s Buscot and Coleshill Estates.
Having started out in 1963 as a local post office and shop run by Bob and Martha Blake, the business has eventually been passed down to the founders’ granddaughter Nicola and her husband Daniel Cooper.
The team of bakers at Blake’s create a daily range of handmade breads including sourdough, as well as sausage rolls, Scotch eggs, cinnamon buns, and doughnuts, with sweet and savoury specials rotating weekly. Dine-in customers can also enjoy freshly prepared salads, soups, and filled baguettes, while exclusive to Witney is a menu of hand-stretched pizzas featuring signature toppings of Brisket & Blue, Ham & Chilli Pineapple, and Pepperoni & Hot Honey.
The company has wholesale clients too, such as the Creature Comfort Pub Group and Hagen Danish cafés in London.
Located at Eagle Industrial Estate in Witney, Blake’s new onsite café affords direct view of bakery production, which is said to have gone down well with customers. The space features an eclectic mix of second-hand and bespoke furniture offering 60 covers alongside paintings on loan from local artists.
The building has a history in brewing dating back 185 years. Its most recently housed Wychwood Brewery, named after the forest which borders Witney, which went through a series of acquisitions before Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company shifted production and closed the site in 2023.
Blake’s co-owner and managing director Daniel Cooper called the expansion “a truly ambitious and exciting step”. “We feel privileged to become the guardians of this historic site and continue its ‘grain-to-goodness’ traditions by moving our bakery into the space and carrying on the tradition of making something delicious from grains, using high-quality, locally sourced ingredients,” he commented.
“The Witney site allows us to consolidate our baking operations and create a significant new community hub that will be the central home for Blake’s,” added Cooper.
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