A BAKERY in Upton-upon-Severn is set to re-open after being taken over by new owners.

The former Cooks Bakery in Old Street, which shut down in October last year, had been open for 70 years before owner Peter Maiden decided to close the doors permanently.

Mr Maiden said that declining footfall and changing shopping habits had hurt the business.

The shop has now been bought by the team from Colston Bakeries, a fourth generation family-run bakery with six branches between Worcester and Malvern.

Jonathan Clarke, from Colston, said: “We have been looking at the site for a while now, we made an approach to Peter for the bakery and did a deal.

“We looked at it and thought that, as a local business, there was no reason we couldn’t make a real good go of it.

“It is a viable business and with our reputation as a local brand we thought we could definitely make a success of running a bakery in Upton.

“We are hoping to open the bakery in Upton in the next couple of weeks but we haven’t set a date for it yet.

“It is really good for the town that the bakery is opening and we are interviewing staff now.

“There will certainly be staff from the old bakery working there as well as new faces which is great for the community.

“We have had some great feedback from people who are delighted that their bakery is re-opening”

Upton town councillor Peter Webb said he was delighted to hear that the bakery is re-opening: “It is great for the town that the bakery is coming back.

“I am not sure of their exact plans but it would be great if they opened it as a delicatessen as well as a bakery.

“In my view, every town should have a good local bakery and it is good to hear the old staff may be getting their jobs back.

“Colston has a very good reputation and we go to their Barnard’s Green bakery a lot.

“I would like to say good luck to them.”

When the bakery closed, Mr Maiden told the Malvern Gazette that more local support for independent bakeries was vital, saying that supermarkets were selling bread for half the price.

In a statement at the time, he said that a combination of increased wage and food costs, along with gas and pipe replacements and bridge works in the town, had adversely affected trade to the point at which the bakery had to close down, taking with it the jobs of the manager and five part time counter assistants,

He added: “More local support could have prevented the bakery from closing.

“People need to shop in their towns. I feel sorry for Upton, it’s dying. I hope people wake up and realise what’s happening to this small town.”

The current mayor of Upton, Cllr Simon Yates, who worked at the bakery for over 30 years, declined to comment on the re-opening.