Troubled Doncaster bakery sees another shop close

The Frenchgate branch was this week, July 7, served a forfeiture notice, also known as a Section 146 notice, which is a formal legal document a landlord serves to a tenant when the tenant has breached the lease agreement.

It's a crucial step before a landlord can terminate the lease and regain possession of the property, except in cases of non-payment of rent. The notice informs the tenant of the breach, requires them to remedy it within a specified time (if capable of remedy), and informs them of the consequences of failing to comply.

It is the latest in a long line of troubles for the long-established Doncaster bakery firm, which has its HQ at Victoria Mill Business Park in Wheatley.

Earlier this year, a number of its shops were suddenly closed down, with some staff claiming to have not been paid.

One former employee Ben Panks-Brown who was left without a job and out of pocket due to non-payment of wages said: “Mr Steel (company owner) set up a payment plan with the enforcement officers dealing with my case but has, at no surprise, failed to keep up with it and hasn't paid a single penny on the plan.”

Employees were left stunned after turning up for work to find shops shuttered with no explanation from bosses.

Branches in Cantley, Armthorpe, East Laith Gate and Skellow were among those impacted while a branch in Worksop had a sign posted on the shop window refusing entry to the owners and staff due to, what appeared to be, non-payment of rent.

The firm also went into administration in 2015, with scores of jobs lost and stores closed, along with its bakery in Wharf Road.

And in 2016, the firm went bust for a second time with administrators once again being called in to one of Doncaster’s biggest and best known firms.

The family company first began life in 1932, rapidly expanding and opening a number of bakeries and shops across Doncaster as well as across Yorkshire.

The firm is separate to a Scarborough-based company of the same name which has been trading since 1885.

Cooplands have refused to comment on any of the issues.