£16m 'super bakery' plan to create 100 jobs in Wrexham

The prince and duchess visit the Village Bakery in July

A £16m plan to build one of Britain's largest craft bakeries could create 100 new jobs in north east Wales, the company behind it has said.

The Village Bakery has submitted a planning application to Wrexham council for the "super bakery".

It would see a 215,000-sq-ft (20,000-sq-m) facility built on land next to the firm's existing bakeries at Wrexham Industrial Estate.

Wrexham AM Lesley Griffiths said it was "brilliant news" for the area.

Bosses at the firm, which already employs about 400 people, said the new bakery was needed to create extra capacity.

Managing director Robin Jones said the company would look to start building next year, if it could secure planning permission, with the development allowing its capacity to double.

He said: "Because we've been growing so rapidly, the biggest problem we have now is lack of space.

Success story

"We need to create the capacity and the beauty of this bakery is that it will give us room to develop new products as well."

Last year, the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall officially opened a £4m baking academy at The Village Bakery's site.

Ms Griffiths said the company, which has previously received Welsh government backing, was a "fantastic success story".

"The plans for the new bakery are amazing and that fact that it will create 100 jobs is brilliant news for the local economy," she added.

In addition to the 16-acre (65,000-sq-m) site earmarked for the development, The Village Bakery said it had also bought six acres (25,000-sq-m) of nearby ancient woodland.

This is it planned to turn into a nature reserve in partnership with the North Wales Wildlife Trust.