Legendary Black Country bakery returns

Phillip Stephens said he hoped the Eccles cakes would still be the same

A 151-year-old bakery in West Bromwich is re-opening its doors, more than a decade after closing.

Firkins' return comes as Sandwell Council opens a new indoor market on the high street on Wednesday, which will be the new home of the bakery.

Managing director Rob Green said: "It feels only right to return to West Bromwich, where the story began, and bring back the flavours and memories that so many people still talk about with fondness."

The bakery was originally founded by Mary Firkin in nearby Carters Green in 1870.

The bakery closed in 2015 due to a lack of sales

It first made its name with award-winning pork pies before growing into one of the largest regional family bakeries in the country.

Phillip Stephens from Tipton said "it was all good food - they cooked all their own stuff and it was really tasty.

"They were best known for cakes and my favourite was Eccles.

"It'll be interesting to see if they've kept things the same or changed any of their old recipes, but hopefully the Eccles cakes are still there."

Anne Ward fondly remembers the vanilla slice at Firkins

Anne Ward from Walsall said the bakery had been missed.

"I grew up with Firkins. I've got dementia and a can't remember a lot, but as a kid I loved the cakes.

"I used to love a vanilla slice. When we come up to West Bromwich again we'll definitely have a look to see what the bakery has got."

Kathleen and Graham Clarke got their wedding cake from Firkins

Kathleen Clarke from Tipton shared her memories of the bakery where she got her wedding cake: "We thought the cake was coming from the shop we ordered everything else from, but when we went to pick it up the day before the wedding it wasn't there.

"They made us a new one, but on the morning of the wedding my sister called to say the bakery had it, so we ended up for two cakes, and they didn't even charge us for the original one.

"We had so much in the end that we were giving it away left, right and centre."

Firkins' stores closed in 2015 after being hit by a lack of new sales, leading to the loss of 104 jobs in the West Midlands.

It previously had a chain of 22 shops in the region, employing more than a hundred people.

Firkins brand and certain assets were then taken over by the current owners, who refocused as a cake manufacturer and ingredient wholesaler.