EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
The majority of Coughlans bakers’ shops will be re-opening under a new name, after liquidators took less than a month to find a buyer for the long-established Croydon business.
Fresh start: Coughlans closed up shop a month ago, sending text messages to tell staff they had lost their jobs
The 175 Coughlans staff who were notified that they were being made redundant by text message, will be welcome to apply for their old jobs, according to a statement released to Inside Croydon.
West Country-based Janes Bakery Ltd has bought the previously family-run business, which first traded from a corner shop in Thornton Heath in 1937. The liquidators declined to reveal the price paid to acquire the business.
Nor were they able to say which of the 31 Coughlans branches across south London, Surrey and Sussex would not be re-opening under new management. A spokesperson for the liquidators suggested that 25 former Coughlans shops will re-open, having closed their doors on July 1 due to the voluntary liquidation.
As Inside Croydon reported last month, the closure was announced by Sean Coughlan, the third generation to run the business. Coughlan blamed the costs of Labour’s employers’ National Insurance increase, a rise in business rates combined with this summer’s heatwaves for a downturn in trade.
None of which appears to have deterred Janes Bakery.
The deal does not include the Coughlan bakery site in Thornton Heath, as that was among £9million-worth of property, assets and cash which, according to Companies House records, was transferred out of the business since 20223 to Smitham Lodge Estates Ltd, another business entity established by the Coughlan’s directors, Sean and his sister, company secretary Virginia Coughlan, and Jacqueline Taylor.
In today’s statement, issued on behalf of joint liquidators Paul Bailey and Kirren Keegan, they said that they have completed the sale of “the majority of the company’s business and certain assets” to Janes.
“The transaction facilitates the future of 25 of the company’s 31 former locations, under new ownership,” the liquidators’ statement continues.
Janes is a well-known bakery and café business based in Tuffley, Gloucestershire, which, much like Coughlan’s, was originally a family-run business. It was established in 1971. It is less than a year since Janes – whose shops trade as Janes Pantry – was itself subject to a takeover deal.
In this case, the sale was arranged following the retirement of the firm’s boss, with Yeovil-based Percy’s Baking (UK) Ltd taking on the 11 shops and around 100 employees.
Coughlan’s liquidators today said that Janes, “serves local communities with a range of freshly baked bread, cakes, pastries and other bakery products”.
And they added: “The purchaser is independent of the company’s former owners”, meaning the Coughlans.
“The sale secures the future of a substantial number of former Coughlans locations and enables bakery services to return to many of the communities previously served by the business.
“While the Coughlans name does not form part of the transaction, the reopening of 25 former stores represents a positive outcome for local high streets, with the potential to create a substantial number of employment opportunities as the sites return to trading under new ownership.”
Liquidator Paul Bailey, of Croydon-based insolvency practitioners BABR, said: “From the outset of our appointment, our objective was to secure a purchaser capable of reopening as many locations as possible and preserving employment opportunities where circumstances allowed.
“We are pleased to have achieved an outcome that allows many of the former stores to return to trading and continue serving their local communities.
“We would like to thank the employees, customers, suppliers, landlords and professional advisers who assisted throughout a challenging period.”
David Davies, the chief executive of Janes Bakery, said: “When shops close suddenly, the impact is felt by staff, loyal customers and the wider high street.
“Our job now is to move quickly but responsibly: reopen viable shops under the Janes name, welcome former Coughlan’s colleagues to reapply as we go, and bring the operating discipline of a heritage baker to a much-loved local bakery estate.”
The Coughlan’s baker shops which were trading before the closure were:
New look: there are 11 Janes Pantry outlets in and around Cheltenham, Bath and Gloucestershire
220 High Street, Croydon; 299 Lower Addiscombe Road; 188 High Street, Beckenham; 99 Station Road, West Wickham; 913 Brighton Road, Purley; 92 High Street, Banstead; 2 Chaldon Road, Caterham on the Hill; 17, Croydon Road, Caterham; 223 Chipstead Valley Road, Coulsdon; 130 Brighton Road, Coulsdon; 4 Maidenbower Square, Crawley; 259 Brighton Road, South Croydon; 502 London Road, Thornton Heath; 136 High Street, Dorking; 3 Horton Retail Centre, Pelman Way, Epsom; 9 Forestdale Centre, Featherbed Lane; 77 High Street, Godstone; 78 Victoria Road, Horley; 102 Blackbridge Lane, Horsham; 1 Piries Place Shopping Centre, Horsham; 21 High Street, Lingfield; 9 Waterhouse Lane, Kingswood; 33 Nork Way, Banstead; 1a Lacey Green, Coulsdon Road, Old Coulsdon; 76 Station Road East, Oxted; 14 High Street, Reigate; 32 The Broadway, Stoneleigh; 5 The Parade, Stafford Rd, Wallington; 58 Woodcote Road, Wallington; 401 Limpsfield Road, Warlingham; 15 High Street, Westerham; and 99 Station Road, West Wickham.
Read more: Coughlan’s directors moved £9m out of bakery firm since 2023
Read more: Croydon bakers firm Coughlan’s closes blaming Labour NI hike
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This sounds liike good news, and I hope the business continues for a long time under its new management.
But not such good news for the local bakery workers and delivery drivers. If planning permission is obtained for residential development on the bakery’s three sites in Thornton Heath, that would make the liquidation highly profitable for
the former business owner.
Except… there’s no suggestion that any such planning application is being brought forward, while the shops are no longer owned by “the former business owner”. The clue’s in the word “former”.