City bakery closes doors as staff 'told jobs had gone'
A former staff member said she received a phone call to say she was losing her job
A Liverpool bakery business has closed its doors, with uncertainty surrounding its future. Baltic Bakehouse has branches on Allerton Road and Bridgewater Street, as well as a bakery site in Wavertree which supplies wholesale baked goods to a number of businesses in Liverpool's hospitality industry.
A former staff member, who asked to remain anonymous, told the ECHO she received a phone call from Samuel Henley, one of the business owners, to tell her that she no longer had a job at the Allerton Road branch. The ECHO understands the business has been closed since Thursday, April 10 but no update has been issued on whether the closure is permanent, and Mr Henley said he did not wish to comment.
She said: "Basically the Allerton Road café closed last Thursday for a day and then our shifts were cancelled. Then we got a call in the afternoon saying 'it's Sam, the owner', which was bizarre. Then he said it was closed with immediate effect."
The staff member claimed Mr Henley told her the sudden closure was due to "staffing and management issues". The ECHO contacted Mr Henley, who declined to comment on the closure and whether it was permanent. The company's online shop page states "Sorry, this store is currently unavailable."
The staff member claims she was told she would be paid up until her final shift with the business, and said the sudden loss of her job has left her in a difficult financial position as she faces the search for new employment.
She said: "I'm in a bit of a desperate position. It's a massive mental load, having to find another job - I find that really daunting. I genuinely was not expecting it myself."
Opened in 2013, the business offered a number of 'signature' loaves, including the 'Baltic Wild' sourdough loaf, as well as a range of breakfast pastries, buns and bloomers baked wholesale to sell to hospitality industry clients across the city region.
The Bridgewater Street branch of Baltic Bakehouse is located in the heart of the Baltic Triangle, and the owners proudly boast that it was "one of the first new businesses that helped kickstart the area's reputation". When the ECHO visited at 2pm on Tuesday the shutters were down and the shop was closed. Its normal opening hours are listed online as 9am-3pm.
A second venue on Allerton Road followed the Baltic Triangle site, serving baked goods, coffee and drinks.
A section of the Baltic Bakehouse website dedicated to 'the story' of the business says: "To bake hundreds of great loaves day in day out is tough. Really tough. A challenge we fail at occasionally as well.
"There are so many variables, like the air temperature, or the flour harvest, the size of batch you’re making, or just the whims of the bread gods. It’s a constant balancing act, but when you get it right you have bread that is a joy to eat.
"Great bread isn’t made in a factory, or on a conveyor belt. It’s made by hand, and eye and intuition. We're still not 100% confident that when we open the oven doors we’ll have a good loaf of bread. I still get excited when I open the doors and find 20 perfect loaves sitting on the deck. Almost makes getting up at 4 AM worthwhile (or 2 AM on busy days). Almost."
It continues: "We know great bread won't change the world. But it's not a bad place to start."