MORE than 100 jobs are at risk at a long-standing West Yorkshire bakery after a Morrisons manufacturer announced it had “taken a difficult decision to close the facility”.
The roles are at the historic Rathbones bakery site, on Stephenson Way in Wakefield.
It comes after Myton Food Group, a manufacturing arm for the Bradford-based supermarket chain, announced it will be shut the site.
The move places 115 roles under threat and signals the end of production for a well-known in-house bakery brand that has supplied Morrisons stores for years.
Morrisons has said that none of its in-store bakeries are affected by this decision and will continue to operate as normal.
Myton Food Group runs the Rathbones site in Wakefield, which was rescued from administration by Morrisons in 2005.
However, after a restructuring in early 2025, the business continued to make “significant losses” and a decision was made to close it.
Myton Food Group will now work with employees at risk of redundancy and try to find them other roles within the group.
A spokesperson for Myton Food Group said: “Since the restructuring of the Rathbones business in early 2025, the team have been working hard to try and build a future for the business as a smaller, more focused supplier of specialist bakery products.
“Since then, the trading conditions in the bakery market have become even more challenging and despite a tremendous effort by the whole team to develop new markets, volumes and sales have declined significantly, exacerbated by the loss of a large third-party customer, with cost increases and the return of inflation also having a significant impact on the competitiveness of the business.
“As a result, the sales performance has fallen well below that envisaged by the recovery plan, with the business continuing to report significant losses.
“Regrettably, having thoroughly reviewed all alternatives, we can no longer see a way back to breakeven and have taken the difficult decision to close the remaining facility.
“This proposal does unfortunately mean that colleagues at the site are at risk of redundancy.
“We are however fully committed to doing everything we can to help all those affected, including identifying any other suitable roles available elsewhere in the Myton Group.”
