Bakery chain in Worcester has 'permanently closed'

Patisserie Valerie has confirmed it has shut down 14 of its smaller patisseries, with one of the closures being the store based in Broad Street, Worcester.

A spokesman said: “Patisserie Valerie has confirmed it has closed 14 of its smaller patisseries. The difficult decision was reached following a detailed review of the size, trading performance and location of each store over the past five months.

“The remaining 75 Patisserie Valerie locations represent the larger, best performing patisseries. The company has confirmed that these difficult measures will enable it to better focus its investment programme on improving the quality of its patisseries over the coming months.”

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The shop front has a sign on the window, which reads: “We are sorry to confirm that this patisserie has now permanently closed.

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank both our loyal customer and the team that ran the patisserie for their dedication and hard work.

“If you are due to collect an order from this patisserie then you will be contacted shortly to arrange a new collection location.”

The nearest Patisserie Valerie store is now located in Resorts World, Birmingham.

Dublin-based Causeway Capital Partners has bought 75 Patisserie Valerie sites after acquiring it from the administrators. However, the deal does not include outlets belonging to sister brands Philpotts and Baker & Spice.

In October last year, the business went into administration after it came to light that finance director, Chris Marsh, had been arrested after being suspended by the company over ‘financial irregularities.’

Its financial problems meant that the business was unable to renew its bank loans and it did not have sufficient funding to continue trading.

Prior to its collapse, the cake chain employed more than 3,000 people.