Cardiff bakery reaches ‘Craft Bakery of the Year’ finals

A Cardiff bakery has reached the final four in the prestigious ‘Craft Bakery of the Year’ category at this year’s UK Baking Industry Awards.

The UK Baking Industry Awards celebrate the people, products, and businesses that make the UK bakery sector so interesting and diverse.

Pettigrew Bakeries, a family-run business and one of the pioneers of craft sourdough in Cardiff, celebrated its eighth anniversary earlier this year, and is hoping to beat out the three other contenders to be crowned the overall winner.

Cardiff favourite

The business has gone from strength to strength since opening its first site opposite Victoria Park, and now operates from three outposts across the Welsh capital, allowing its bakers to specialise in patisserie and lamination at the original Canton site, and bespoke breads in Roath.

They also operate a retail-only bakery shop and café space in Castle Arcade in Cardiff, as well as trading every week at Cardiff Farmers Markets and operating as wholesale, too.

Renowned for their sourdoughs made with organic flour over a 72-hour process, Pettigrew Bakery also uses traditional yeasted methods to create a variety of products including demi-brioche, focaccia, honey-oat spelt bread – with many of their limited-edition pastries, such as the Crème Brûlée Croissant, becoming social media sensations.

The judges of the Baking Industry Awards visited bakeries across Britain as part of the judging process for the ‘Craft Bakery of the Year’ award and praised Pettigrew Bakeries for their understanding of the craft bakery market, and their innovative use of different models for their three different locations.

They particularly noted the “really nice range of products that complemented each other.”

Excellence

Amy North, Editor of British Baker and head judge of the Baking Industry Awards, commented further, “Craft Bakery Business of the Year is an incredibly competitive category, and our four finalists exemplify excellence.

“Our judges believe that everyone at Pettigrew Bakeries brought something unique to the business and were filled with passion and pride for the baked goods they produced.”

Pettigrew founder David Le Masurier said, “To even be shortlisted for this award is huge for us – there are some incredible craft bakeries out there across the UK.

“It’s an absolute testament to the hard work of our teams who genuinely take pride in baking from scratch every day, before the rest of the city has even woken up.

“As a small, family-owned business we are all absolutely thrilled to be finalists, and grateful to everyone who has supported the growth of our business along the way.”

Pettigrew Bakeries is the sister brand to Pettigrew Tearooms, located in the Grade II listed West Lodge of Cardiff’s Bute Park, known for offering one of the city’s best afternoon teas.

David opened Pettigrew Tea Rooms in 2012, following a high-flying career in hotel management, driven by a long-standing desire to open his own tearoom, which he documented extensively on his blog, I Want To Bake Free.

Find out more here.