Park’s good news not good for Newport...

Oldham’s Park Cake bakery’s new deal with Marks and Spencer is good news for the Oldham factory but bad news for a bakery in South Wales.

Park Cake - a long term M&S supplier - has won a new multi-million pound M&S contract which it says will improve job security at its Hathershaw factory on Ashton Road, currently in a row about agency workers and zero-hour contracts

But the news means more than 650 jobs are now under threat at the bakery that previously supplied up to 85 per cent of M&S desserts.

Park Cake has welcomed the news but said it has no plans to take on extra staff.

A spokesman said: “The award of new business adds to the security of existing jobs at the site.”

In contrast, the Avana bakery in Newport said the decision by M&S was a “huge setback” for the company, which has links with M&S stretching back 70 years.

In reply, M&S said it had not taken the decision lightly and it understands that the switch to Oldham could have a significant impact for Avana.