In-store bakery supplier Country Style Foods has acquired the former General Mills Jus-Rol factory in Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Country Style, which specialises in supplying supermarket in-store bakeries and bake-off operations, described the 180,000sq ft site as a “centre of excellence for pastry manufacture for a number of years”.

General Mills announced in January this year that it would shut the facility as part of a raft of site closures, and production is reported to have ended three weeks ago. The business has axed factories across the globe as it restructures its business.

The Berwick site, which makes Jus-Rol pastry products and Betty Crocker cake mixes, was acquired by General Mills in 2001 when it bought the Pilsbury and Jus-Rol businesses from Grand Metropolitan (now Diageo).

The facility was established in 1958 and was a major employer in the area, with 265 staff. In 2013, the site won at the Best Factory Awards organised by Cranfield School of Management.

“The Berwick site has been General Mill’s centre of excellence for pastry manufacture for a number of years and it is famous for being the home of Jus-Rol,” Country Style managing director Joe Wood told British Baker.

“The site will now bring similar strength to our range of products for in-store bakeries and bake-off.”

Fifty-year-old family business Country Style operates factories in locations including Leeds, Grimsby, Stockton and Peterlee.

The Berwick deal comes just under a year after Country Style acquired the assets of Ixxy’s Bagels out of administration.