Family-run business Carrs Pasties is set to open a new shop in Bolton this summer.
The site, at Middlebrook Retail Park in Horwich, represents Carrs’ first shop on a retail park and leisure complex, and fourth overall with its three other sites also in Bolton.
It will serve all Carrs’ products including the core range of pasties and sausage rolls, freshly made sandwiches and salads, cakes, snacks, and cold drinks. Hot drinks will also be available and are due to be provided by Manchester company, Second City Coffee.
Customers will also be able to order online for click & collect and via delivery app platforms including Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Just Eat, and Too Good to Go.
The latest expansion will see the business compete for sales against the likes of Costa Coffee, Cakeaway, and Greggs which also have stores at the retail park. Its location next to the University of Bolton Stadium, where Bolton Wanderers FC play home games, was key to the company’s decision.
These types of locations are becoming increasingly popular for bakery businesses and coffee shops as they look for high traffic areas away from the high street. Travel hubs, retail parks and shopping centres were among the list of locations being targeted by Greggs, for example, as it continues its expansion across the UK.
“Middlebrook has been in our sights for over a decade, and not just because of the demand from our customers,” said Carrs Pasties director Matt Carr. “Opening a store there represents an opportunity to strengthen our relationship with Bolton Wanderers Football Club – where we are currently sponsors of the Family Stand – and the community around Horwich and the surrounding areas.
“We are a Bolton business, so opening at Middlebrook makes sense. We are really looking forward to welcoming new customers from further afield, it’s an exciting venture for us and we can’t wait to open our doors.”
Now a third-generation family bakery, Carrs started out producing meat & potato pasties for Joe and Nellie Carr’s general store on Halliwell Road in Bolton back in 1938. It still has a site on Halliwell Road, alongside two more on Manchester Road and at the Market Place shopping centre. Customers can also buy frozen pasties from a selection of businesses across Lancashire and online.
The business undertook a ‘comprehensive brand refresh’ last year which included giving each of the bakery’s products its own ‘distinctive personality’, communicating the ingredients and emphasising the freshly baked aspect of Carrs’ goods along with its ‘little and often’ approach to baking in-store.
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