Supporting British Industry & Craftsmanship
A Gloucester institution, famed for its 'lardy cakes'. The Tuffley headquarters is run by Neville Morse and his wife Tania who have worked for the bakery for over 40 years. The business has 11 shops throughout the city and 1 in Cheltenham.
The bakery still sell hundreds of lardy cakes a week, but in the 1970s and '80s they were selling 500 big lardy cakes every day. Tastes change, and now the sausage roll is their most popular product - they turn out 5000 an hour. Takeaway food and sandwiches make up 40% of the business - the doorstep sandwhich is the biggest seller. The staff are loyal and many have been with the company for years, including Tracy Hines who joined 43 years ago as an apprentice (last portrait in series). Baking on this scale requires conveyor belts to flip doughnuts into hot oil and a machine to cut the cakes into identical slices, yet some elements are still done by hand: making puff pastry, cutting through the delicate layers of custard slice and piping Viennese whirls.
Update: After fifty years of being a family-run business, Neville and Tania Morse retired and Yeovil-based Percy's Baking Ltd was confirmed as the new owner of Janes Pantry in September 2025.
"Having grown up in Bristol, we were familiar with lardy cake - a sticky, sugary family favourite. So it was wonderful to see it being made - if slightly horrifying witnessing quite how much lard and sugar goes into making it! The bakery had a lovely atmosphere, a great camaraderie amongst the staff and nimble hands working at great speed cutting doughs, upturning hot tins, flipping doughnuts and cutting tray-bakes into equal squares. An onslaught for the senses." Carmel King photographed Janes Pantry in March 2024 for Made in Gloucester.
