Doubling its sales has prompted handmade speciality bread and cake producer The Bread Factory to build a new production facility. The wholesale baker, which has been baking breads and morning goods for more than 17 years, needed more space after sales rose in the last two years.

The Bread Factory spent £780,000 on the new 15,000sq m production area, which includes a new mezzanine floor to utilise space above a production area.

The new factory has doubled The Bread Factory’s capacity and prompted it to hire more staff, taking the total to 140. Co-MD Tom Molnar said: "We’re doing more seeded breads and German rye bread, while our hand-piped muffin business has also grown quite a bit."

The company will also open its fourth branch of neighbourhood bakery outlet Gail’s, in Clapham in June.