Warburtons — BrandWiki

Warburtons

Overview

Warburtons Limited

type	Private
location	Bolton, Greater Manchester, England
founder	Thomas Warburton
key people	Jonathan Warburton (Chairman)
industry	Baking
owner	Jonathan Warburton Brett Warburton Ross Warburton
num employees	Over 5000‡R1R‡‡R2R‡
revenue	£574.4 million
parent	Warburtons Holdings Limited‡R3R‡
products	Bread and other bakery goods
homepage	https://warburtons.co.uk

Warburtons Limited[4] is a British baking firm founded by Thomas Warburton in 1876 and based in Bolton, a town formerly in Lancashire, England, and now in Greater Manchester. For much of its history Warburtons only had bakeries in Lancashire and it remains a family-owned company. As of 2018, Warburtons has 12 bakeries, 14 depots, and 4,500 employees around the UK.[5]

The company embarked on a large expansion programme in the late 1990s which continued in the 2000s and it has grown across the United Kingdom after being relatively unheard of outside the North West.[6] By 2010, it had a 24% share of the UK bread market compared with 2% when it was based solely in Bolton.[7] In 2008, Warburtons was the most popular bread in Lancashire with a 45% market share compared with just 15% in London.[8]

History

Founding years

Ellen and Thomas Warburton bought a small grocery shop in Bolton in 1876. The business grew and Thomas' nephew Henry joined the business when he was 16 and became a skilled baker by the age of 25. Henry continued to expand the business and the location of the bakery was moved four times in 25 years finishing with the opening of Back o'th' Bank Bakery opened by Rachael Warburton in July 1915. Henry became involved in local affairs within the community and stood as a Liberal candidate. He became mayor of Bolton. Henry Warburton died in 1936.

Warburtons grew with the purchase of several smaller companies in North West England.

Expansion

Production of bread was based solely in Bolton for much of the company's history. Because of this, during transport the bread lost its freshness by the time it arrived anywhere outside the North West of England. With demand increasing from national retailers such as Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's,[9] in the late 1990s the company embarked on an expansion programme and opened new plants at Eastwood in Nottinghamshire, Bellshill and Wednesbury. Warburtons moved into Scotland in 1996 and by 2003 the company had a 32% share of the Scottish bread market.[10]

National brand

In October 2003, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh opened Warburtons' eleventh bakery in Enfield, North London. In 2004, Warburtons increased production in Scotland with the completion of Bellshill, phase two. Rathbones Bakeries, based in Walsall, went into administration in April 2005, and Warburtons bought a bakery at Stockton-on-Tees just off the A66 near Preston-on-Tees in January 2005, and another bakery at Rogerstone near the A467 at Newport in November 2005. A £60m 12 acre super bakery in Normanton, West Yorkshire opened in March 2006, claiming to be the largest bakery in Europe. Other bakeries outside of the Lancashire area are in Newburn for Newcastle upon Tyne next to the A6085 and River Tyne.

In 2010, the company announced the closure of its Newport facility, but retained a distribution depot at Port Talbot to continue service to the South Wales market. Production was transferred to a new plant in Bristol. The lease on the Newport plant was ceded to Brace's Bakery.[11]

Warburtons

History

Founding years

Expansion

National brand

Products

Further reading

External links

References