Award-winning Cardiff bakery business set to open new café this summer

An award-winning Cardiff bakery business has announced plans to open a brand-new headquarters and bakery café this summer, opening a major new chapter for the much-loved local brand.

Pettigrew Bakeries is set to open the headquarters in Penylan from June 2026, the ‘Breadquarters’ will be based at the Design Quarter on Colchester Avenue, bringing all baking under one roof for the first time.

The 5,500 sq ft space will allow Pettigrew Bakeries to significantly increase capacity, create ten new jobs, streamline day-to-day operations and create a new customer-facing bakery café with a theatre-style window into the heart of the bakery – continuing the brand’s long-standing love of putting its craft on show.

The move comes after years of growth for the family-owned business, which currently employs 45 full and part-time staff and operates across four sites in the city (Victoria Park, Roath Garage, Castle Arcade and Rhiwbina High Street) alongside a weekly presence at all three Cardiff Farmers Markets in Rhiwbina, Roath and Riverside.

Until now, production has been split across two separate bakery spaces in Victoria Park and Moy Road in Roath – a model the team says has become increasingly complex and restrictive as demand has grown.

Sites remain open 

Importantly, Pettigrew Bakeries has confirmed that all four of its current sites will remain open and continue to grow once production moves to the new ‘Breadquarters’. The increased production capacity is also expected to support future wholesale growth, while also enabling the bakery to offer more of the products customers know and love at the times they want them most.

As part of the next phase of the business, both the Victoria Park and Roath Garage sites will also receive their own makeovers, ensuring loyal customers can continue to pop in for their daily bread, pastries, coffee and seasonal specials.

David Le Masurier, founder of Pettigrew Bakeries, said: “We have outgrown every inch of space we own, so this is just the logical next step for us. For ten years, we have relentlessly focused on our craft, putting consistency above everything else and incrementally improving what we do in response to what our customers tell us they love. Growth for us now is a necessity. It solves overly complicated daily operations, but it also gives us the room to be more creative and ambitious about what Pettigrew Bakeries can become.

“We are investing in new technology to help us bake on a larger scale, but Pettigrew is still about highly skilled professional bakers, hand-producing bread, pastries and more, seven days a week, 363 days of the year. The difference is that this new space will allow our bakers to spend more time baking, and less time carrying things up and down stairs or in and out of provers!”

The new ‘Breadquarters’ has been secured on a lease signed in March 2026, following an extensive property search. Designed by Alistair Nicoll Architect, the site sits on the corner of Colchester Avenue and Ipswich Road within Design Quarter, among a mix of commercial neighbours including City Hospice, HSL, Sigma 3 Kitchens, Mandarin Stone and the Salvation Army Donation Centre.

Personal significance 

For founder David, the move also carries a personal significance. A graduate of what was then Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Hospitality Management course 25 years ago, the new bakery sits just next to the former campus site – the opening is something of a full circle moment.

David added, “We probably could have made this move a year ago, but we wanted to make sure this was right for everybody involved in this business. After an exhaustive search and a list of requirements that would have made Mary Poppins seem under-qualified, we found this site. It gives us the access and infrastructure we need as a working bakery, but it also sits right alongside residential neighbourhoods, which makes it the perfect place to create a comfortable bakery café space, too.”

Over the coming months, the team will be fitting out the site while continuing to operate all existing shops and market pitches as normal. Pettigrew plans to document the behind-the-scenes process across its social media channels, giving customers a look at both the highs and lows of bringing a major artisan bakery space to life.

Further updates, including the official opening date and more details on the new bakery café, will be shared in the coming weeks via their social media.