Family firm’s hunt for fresh batch of bakers turns stale

BAKERS born and bread... (back, from left) Jackie Scholes, Emily Knight, Kamiel Wieckiewicz and Fran Oldfield with Dawn Alexander-Mills (front)

A VILLAGE baker desperate to recruit fresh staff into his thriving business can’t find candidates to fill key roles.

JW Buckley’s bakery in Uppermill has a tradition of artisan baking spanning more than 100 years.

Despite a rise in the popularity of baking thanks to TV favourite “The Great British Bake Off” there is still a chronic shortage of apprentices and skilled bakers to fill a raft of jobs at the High Street premises.

Father-of-two Graham Scholes (52), who took over the family business after the death of his father Ian, said: “I was completely stunned. I can’t find bakers anywhere.

“Oven bottom muffins are a proud northern tradition and one of our most popular lines. There is a real skill in making them.

“But in reality, no-one seems to want artisan jobs. Initially, I was looking for bakers with qualifications and I received 446 inquiries but out of 65 actual applications only two had the proper credentials.

“It’s terribly frustrating but people just don’t want jobs.

“We can’t even recruit van drivers or people to work as shop assistants during the day.

“In fact, one of my sons, Paul (26) is having to work seven days a week, then driving our delivery van.

“Everyone associates baking with night work but we can’t even find people for day jobs in the shop.

“Part of the problem is when students go to college to learn about baking they seem to spend half the time doing academic subjects and not actually learning how to physically bake.”

His wife Jacqueline said: “It’s ironic that ‘The Great British Bake Off’ is one if the most popular TV shows — yet there’s no-one actually out there who really wants to bake for a living.”

Francesca Oldfield (22), from Dobcross, spent four years working at the bakery between university studies.

And although she now works in marketing role for another company she still helps out at the bakery.

She said: “The business is facing shortages and difficulty recruiting people who are willing to put a shift in and go the extra mile.

“It really is bad there’s no-one to fill these jobs. Finding people who are committed and willing to work unsociable hours is becoming more and more difficult.

“Before long, traditional bakeries will die out and we will just be left with supermarket in-store bakeries where there is a lesser need for bakery skills.

For more information on job opportunities at JW Buckley’s, call 01457-872 175.