THE scent of freshly baked bread is filling Westbury's high street after a new bakery opened its doors.

Bristol-based Parsons Bakery opened up in the high street this week after Bath Bakery was suddenly placed into liquidation last Friday.

Following the closure of Bath Bakery, staff were worried that their jobs would be in jeopardy as doubt surrounded the takeover, but director of Parsons, Tom Curling, confirmed that they have all been kept on.

He said: “Since last week, we have been on a mission to save the eight shops. There has been a tidal wave of support from the customers, the staff & the landlords of the shops, which has really spurred us on.

“After a tortuous few days, we were delighted to re-open in Westbury and look forward to hearing feedback from customers.

“We are also delighted to say that all previous members of staff have been kept on.”

However, staff were not paid wages from their last five weeks of working for Bath Bakery after director Mark Slevin placing the company into liquidation before the deal went through.

Manchester-based firm Poppleton & Appleton, which is dealing with the insolvency, is in the process of writing to all former employees providing information on how to submit claims to the authorities to recover any outstanding money owed to them.

Parsons is a family-run bakery based in Bristol which has been running for 90 years and has branches in Bristol, Bath, Bradford on Avon, Frome, Westbury and further beyond.

It purchased nine of the 11 Bath Bakery branches but it is believed that the outstanding two, in Keynsham and Oldfield Park in Bath, are still closed.