Sadly, 2015 could not all be about good news. It was a tough year for craft bakeries and even mighty brands like Hovis found themselves needing to cut costs. This was also the year the health debate around sugar erupted, with the full effect perhaps yet to be felt in 2016.

New Gallery 2015/12/23Cooplands - In February, craft bakery Cooplands went into pre-pack administration. The company’s 39 stores, head office and bakery, closed for the loss of 303 jobs, though the pre-organised sales of leasehold sites and sandwich vans saved another 259originaldate 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AMheight 350width 550orientation 1camerasoftware GIMP 2.8.14Firkins - Finkins bakery was liquidated in June, following the closure of its production site and the redundancy of 40 staff in May. However, the bakery’s 33 shops were saved, employing around 189 staff as part of the Oliver Adams bakery chainoriginaldate 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AMwidth 550height 350Forfars Bakers - Forfars Bakers entered voluntary liquidation in October, making over 40 staff redundant. It followed a turbulent period for the company, which closed its Burgess Hill and Horsham stores in July. Picture copyright Damon Hart-Daviscameramake SONYheight 350orientation 1flash 16originaldate 9/2/2004 7:19:53 PMwidth 550cameramodel DSC-F828General Mills - General Mills announced it was to close its Jus-Rol pastry factory in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland. At the time of the announcement in November, the factory employed 256 people but it could now close as soon as Autumn 2016originaldate 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AMwidth 550height 350Gunstones Bakery - Bakers at 2 Sisters Food Group-owned Gunstones Bakery went on strike in June and July, claiming the company backtracked on a pay rise to fund 427 redundancies. The dispute was settled with a one-off payment and 2% payrise to staffflash 16cameramake Canonheight 350orientation 1camerasoftware GIMP 2.8.14originaldate 2/29/2012 5:00:49 PMwidth 550cameramodel Canon EOS 50DHarris + Hoole - The Tesco-backed Harris + Hoole had a dire year, with founding trio the Tolley siblings resigning from management and Tesco beginning the long process of exiting the business by moving to acquire the outstanding stakeflash 16cameramake Appleheight 350dir: 208alt: 55lat: 51.594667long: -0.383167orientation 1camerasoftware GIMP 2.8.14originaldate 2/7/2013 4:26:10 PMwidth 550cameramodel iPhone 5Hovis - Hovis made 40 staff redundant at the end of July after it closed a bread production line at its Wigan bakery. Fresh woes came in November when it was announced a further 111 Wigan jobs were at risk, with the first redundancies due next Marchcameramake Hasselbladheight 350orientation 1camerasoftware GIMP 2.8.14originaldate 3/20/2012 5:14:35 PMwidth 550cameramodel Hasselblad H3D-39National Living Wage - In July, the Chancellor George Osborne confirmed that business would be forced to pay the National Living Wage, which will see wages rise to £9 an hour by 2020, but offered little to help businesses bear the extra costoriginaldate 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AMheight 350width 550orientation 1camerasoftware GIMP 2.8.14Sugar - Sugar had a bad year, with a report by Public Health England linking it to obesity. Calls came in from all angles, including from celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, for a tax on the sweet stuff though no action has yet been taken by the governmentcameramake NIKON CORPORATIONheight 350orientation 1camerasoftware GIMP 2.8.14originaldate 4/10/2012 4:14:05 PMwidth 550cameramodel NIKON D40Tate & Lyle - A change from E341 to maize starch as an anti-caking agent in Tate & Lyle’s icing sugar angered bakers who said the new product produced a grainy texture in icing. The company said the change improved the sugar’s keeping qualityoriginaldate 1/1/0001 6:00:00 AMwidth 550height 350

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