'Excellent' family bakery forced to close because it can't compete with supermarket prices in Milton Keynes

A family bakery that has been trading for 168 years has been forced to close its doors after issuing a poignant 'use us or lose us' plea to its High Street customers.
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Turneys bakery opened up a new shop on Newport Pagnell High Street two years ago but business has proved slow.

Master baker Giles Deering runs the bakery with his wife Gemma and his dad Paul, who gets up at 2am each day to start the mammoth bread and cake-making session.

Giles takes over during the day and works until 10pm or 11pm at night. He blames the demise on the fact that their bread and cakes, baked by hand with locally-sourced quality ingredients, simply cannot be sold as cheaply as mass-produced supermarket products.

Turneys bakeryTurneys bakery
Turneys bakery

“Shopping habits have changed and times are tough financially for many people. They're trying to save money by shopping at stores such as Aldi and Lidl. But we can't compete with their prices,” he said.

“We are working for 22 hours a day. Our bread and cakes and are excellent. It's hard to think of anything else we can do,” said Giles.

In October last year, he put a post on the Newport Pagnell bakery's Facebook page telling customers: “Your help is needed to save your local bakery. It's so sad to say but it's come to that time... Use us or lose us.”

Today a shop announced its last day of trading would be this Saturday.

Everything is freshly baked by handEverything is freshly baked by hand
Everything is freshly baked by hand

It said: “We would like to thank all our customers for the support you have shown us and for allowing us to be part of this beautiful High Street for the past two years.

“We have formed some wonderful relationships with our customers and will sadly miss you all.”

Newport Pagnell town mayor Paul Day said he was “very sad” to see the announcement.

“The hard lesson for all of us in our town is we 'use it or Lose it'. If we want a thriving high street, we need to spend our money there. So please buy local whenever you can and keep our town businesses open,” he said.

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