Popular family bakery closes ‘brilliant’ second shop in Daventry

A popular family bakery business took the “incredibly tough and personal decision” to close one of its shops in Daventry town centre this summer.

Born and Bread Bakery, an artisan bakery and café located in Sheaf Street, is set to close down on July 1, 2024. The property is available for lease.

Born and raised in Long Buckby, brother and sister Ali and Libby Keech opened a bakery in their village in 2018. Three years later, the bakery expanded to Daventry.

Ali, from Long Buckby, said: “It's become a space where people can easily meet in Daventry. A huge thank you to everyone who has visited so far. We have an amazing group of regular customers that come in two or three times a week and loads that just pop in at the weekend.”

The business opened its doors in Sheaf Street on June 12, 2021.

Ali said: “We were outgrowing our space in Long Buckby, which was a brilliant problem to have, I suppose, but Daventry for us was obviously quite a big risk at the time because we've just come out of Covid restrictions.”

Together with their team, the bakery offers freshly baked bread, a variety of cakes, pastries, lunch options, and coffee.

On Sunday (April 7), the team announced on social media that they would be shutting down the bakery in Daventry.

The post reads: “Born and Bread Bakery at 28 Sheaf Street has provided a wonderful, busy, and testing three years, but it's time for us to take a breath and start a new chapter.

“Please understand that this is an incredibly tough and personal decision. We have given a huge amount of energy and love to this space, but we need to find a better work and life balance.”

Both bakeries will carry on with business as usual until July 1, 2024.

Ali said: “It’s not the plan at the moment to close the Long Buckby shop. We’ll probably continue to trade in Long Buckby past that date, but we need to take some time to work out exactly how the production side of that works and what we can offer.”

Ali and Libby are currently looking for someone to take over the unit.

Ali said: “One of the exciting things has been how Sheaf Street has developed with the bakery there. On Saturday mornings, especially, there's a real buzz around.

“That's why we're so keen to see someone come in and take it on. It's a brilliant space for someone to keep doing what we're doing.”

People who are interested in renting the space can contact Ali at [email protected].

Ali said: “It's a really great opportunity just because it's so set up and ready to go. You're walking into a space that has everything there that you need to do the job.

“We would consider doing some kind of transfer period with whoever was taking it over.”