Cornish Bakery, the independent, founder-driven company first started in Mevagissey, Cornwall, has announced that it will open its doors in Taunton, Somerset, on Tuesday 1st October 2024. The new bakery will create 15+ year-round local jobs whilst supporting the Taunton community through a partnership with a local charity, to be selected by the new bakery team, and announced shortly.
The opening announcement date comes in the same week as The Times hard-to-please food reviewer, Giles Coren wrote about his discovery of The Cornish Bakery at the Taunton Dean services kiosk which he described as one of the ‘prettiest’ motorway takeaway spots, with ‘perfect’ pasties and ‘best ever’ sausage rolls. Now the bakery is coming to the heart of the Westcountry town for all to enjoy its range of delicious products.
The new Cornish Bakery will be located at 7 Fore Street in a three-storey freestone building which was built in the late 19th Century. The building has previously been home to a bank and the Cornish Bakery will therefore be bringing the property back into use as a community location.
Each Cornish Bakery is individually designed to optimise and honour the setting. In Taunton, the bakery team will retain and restore the handsome existing stone exterior of the property, fully embracing and accentuating the heritage and history of the building and the surrounding area, whilst evolving the building’s aesthetic with a contemporary interior scheme.
Inside, the 205 sq. metre property will host extensive seating of up to 58 people at one time, maximising the plentiful light which streams in via the original central, stained-glass domed skylight window, and the floor to ceiling period windows, all illuminating the space beautifully. The spectacular central dome window feature is reminiscent of the octagonal Victorian skylight in Kew Gardens’ temperate house, inspiring the Cornish Bakery design team to pay homage to this, planting a tree under the window to mark the core of the property.
Given the company’s Cornish heritage, they always use new bakery opportunities to support committed artisan makers and designers, showcasing the products and artworks of their home county’s talented creatives. The new Taunton bakery will be adorned with lights from Cornwall-based Tom Raffield and Studio Haran and there will be original framed, tapestry artwork pieces from south west-based designers, A-Side.
The bakery will sell Cornish Bakery’s range of delicious products including its award-winning pasties and sausage rolls, both lauded by The Times’ food reviewer Giles Coren. Additionally, it will sell its daily crafted and baked viennoiseries, cakes, and bakes alongside recently introduced runaway success options such as a Pistachio Croissant and Salted Caramel Roll.
Cornish Bakery has a long-standing commitment to the B-Corp certified specialty coffee company Union. Union’s philosophy of coffee sourcing is more than just paying a fair price. It means they work in partnership with farmers to improve both quality of coffee and livelihoods long-term, and Cornish Bakery carries this forward with every cup of coffee served in all of its bakeries. Cornish Bakery also proudly sources a large majority of its ingredients and products from producers, growers and suppliers from across Cornwall and the south west at large.
Cornish Bakery Founder and Owner Steve Grocutt said: “We are delighted to open our newest Cornish Bakery, our 62nd nonetheless, in Taunton. This is a strong Westcountry destination with a thriving retail landscape and ‘high street. We are very pleased to be bringing our unique philosophy and our values-driven culture to this key Somerset town.”
Steve continues, “We believe a bakery should be part of the community so our new local 15+ strong Taunton team are currently actively seeking opportunities to work with organisations in the area including a designated charity partner which we will be announcing around our opening. I am very pleased to see our bespoke Taunton bakery design coming to life, accentuating and optimising this remarkable building and its beautiful period features for all our customers to enjoy once more.”
A perfect breakfast, lunch or afternoon stop off for shoppers, visitors and residents alike, the Taunton Bakery Manager, Sarah Balls (previously the bakery manager at the Bideford Cornish Bakery) and team will be ready to welcome customers from 8am – 5pm every day of the week from 1st October.
Find out more about the Cornish Bakery through their website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date with their news.
