Poole’s Pies sold in pre-pack deal
POOLE’S Pies, the Wigan bakery owned by veteran entrepreneur Dave Whelan has been sold in a pre-pack deal after a boardroom fall-out.
The company, which traces its roots back to 1847 and is said to be the oldest bakery in England, has been bought by Midland Bakery.
A notice of intention to appoint an administrator was filed at the High Court in Manchester on Wednesday. The case is being handled by Hale firm Milner Boardman & Co.
Poole’s, which has around 60 staff and supplies sweet and savoury baked goods to Asda and Tesco, looked to be on a firm footing after Mr Whelan agreed a £4m deal to sell the business in March 2012 to former Hollands Pies boss Neil Court-Johnson.
This transaction never formally completed though and Mr Court-Johnston, who secured deals with the supermarket retailers for Poole’s is no longer responsible for the daily operation of the business, although he is still listed as a director.
Mr Court-Johnston told TheBusinessDesk.com: “There’s been a measure of disagreement over recent weeks over the forward direction of the business. I’m not in a position to comment further but despite being a director I was unaware of the current moves.
“My prime concern now is for our employees. We’ve successfully brought major customers and planned to create substantial employment in Wigan, in excess of 200 jobs. Hopefully, any transaction will produce similar benefits”.
Since Mr Whelan, who owns Wigan Athletic and DW Sports, acquired Poole’s more than 25 years ago, he has invested around £10m in the 300,000 sq ft bakery, which has the capacity to make up to 100,000 pies and pastries every hour.
He confirmed he had put the business into administration and it had been sold immediately: “My over-riding concern in this matter has been to protect the staff at Poole’s which is what has happened with the sale of the business.
“I felt I could not go forward with the original deal for a number of reasons and had no alternative than to put the business into administration.”
