Serving the Teesside Business Community | 61
/ MIDDLESBROUGH NEWS
SUCCESS FOR BAKERS TAILORING
AFTER TREBLING TURNOVER
Paul Smith, managing director of
Bakers Tailoring in Middlesbrough.
B
akers Tailoring, one of Teesside’s most
long-established names, has enhanced
its growing reputation by receiving
a leading wedding industry award for the
quality of its menswear.
Bakers was hailed as Wedding Menswear
Supplier of the Year for the North-East and
Yorkshire in the prestigious Wedding Industry
Awards.
Bakers has been the name Teessiders have
turned to for more than 100 years, having
been established as merchant navy outfitters
since 1911.
But in the 18 short months since moving
two doors along and doubling space at its
new home at 166 Linthorpe Road, Bakers
has hit boom time.
The business has recruited five new staff
to meet a fast-increasing demand that has
seen the firm treble its turnover in the past
year alone.
Ma naging director Paul Smith says news is
spreading as they establish their reputation
as the North-East’s leading menswear
wedding specialists, with grooms, best
men and fellow guests flocking to their
Middlesbrough store from as far afield as
Newcastle and even Berwick.
Working with some of the world’s finest
suppliers of cloth, Bakers make, sell and hire
suits for all occasions.
From off-the-peg suits from just £195 to
a groom’s made-to-measure three-piece
costing £2,500, Bakers cover all spectrums
and budgets.
Local lad Paul has made the climb from
the firm’s youth trainee to managing director
during 38 years of tailoring on Linthorpe
Road, all but six of them spent with Bakers –
the rest as Psyche’s tailoring manager.
“Bakers is my life,” he said. “I still love it,
I still thrive off it. We’ve based our success
on providing quality at affordable prices,
specialising in providing made-to-measure
and off-the-peg wedding suits.
“Tailoring is a dying trade but we offer
service, knowledge and experience that fits
everyone’s needs. But quality is the key.”
Smith has been the tailor to the stars over
the years including football heroes such as
Fabrizio Ravanelli, Juninho and Jimmy Floyd
Hasselbaink.
Artisan pie firm
picks up two golds at
British Pie Awards
Pie Jackers – a Middlesbrough-based
artisan pie company run by recently-
married Neil Fletcher and Julie Martin –
was awarded TWO golds at the British Pie
Awards.
One of the golds was for the company’s
Hotshot Chicken pie – owners Neil and
Julie’s take on the popular Middlesbrough
dish, the Hotshot Parmo.
The pie contains locally reared chicken
fillets, creamy béchamel sauce, jalapenos,
pepperoni, cheese pastry and is topped
with garlic breadcrumbs.
The second gold was awarded for their
Steak, Guinness and Black Pudding pie.
Neil and Julie launched Pie Jackers less
than a year ago after leaving successful
careers in the PR industry.
HOTEL DEVELOPMENT
FOR EX-COUNCIL
OFFICES
Two national restaurant
chains head to
Middlesbrough
Two fast-growing national restaurant chains
are the first to sign up for the new restaurant
and leisure destination at Middlesbrough’s
Centre Square, with a bowling alley, sky bar
and micro pub also proposed.
Bistrot Pierre is taking 4,080 sq ft on the
ground floor underneath the Holiday Inn
Express Hotel and the adjoining Permanent
House on the Albert Road frontage of the
Cleveland Centre.
Turtle Bay also opened at the end of April,
in the former Walkabout unit on the corner
of Albert Road and Corporation Road, in the
heart of what will be a thriving centre of
new cafes, bars and restaurants overlooking
Centre Square and the Town Hall.
/TeesBusiness
Former council offices are set to become
a hotel in the latest phase of town centre
redevelopment in Middlesbrough.
The proposed sale and conversion of
Vancouver House builds on a growing sense
of confidence across the town.
Middlesbrough Council’s Executive
Sub Committee for Property considered a
proposals to dispose of the Gurney Street
office block.
Members also considered proposals for
the building to be turned into either student
or residential accommodation.
Vancouver House is a seven-storey
building with just over 92,000 sq ft of floor
space, comprising a basement and six upper
floors of predominantly open plan office
accommodation.
£800K LIVE
WELL CENTRE IS
LAUNCHED
An innovative centre for health which will
empower and inspire people towards
healthier and happier lives has been
created in Middlesbrough.
The Live Well Centre will be based
across five floors of Dundas House and
will be a one-stop shop for dealing with a
full spectrum of life issues to help create a
springboard for change.
It has been made possible by an
£800,000 refit of the previously disused
space, further helping the town’s ongoing
regeneration.
The hub will offer a new and diverse
range of hireable facilities, including
a community gym and fitness studio,
training kitchen, clinics and consultation
rooms, event space and much more.
@Tees_Business