Bolton’s legendary bakery Carrs Pasties has revealed some huge plans to expand across the UK for the first time ever.
Founded all the way back in 1938, and known as the ‘pride of Bolton’ with the town at the heart of everything it does, family-run bakery Carrs Pasties may not be known worldwide, but it has been “baking perfect pasties” for the past 83 years, with an original recipe that has been passed down through three generations.
The beloved bakery – which runs three shops in the Bolton borough – “takes great pride” in what it produces, admitting that it wants every single pasty to taste as good as the next and working extremely hard to achieve this feat.
Over the years, the company has gone from humble beginnings, to launching a click and collect service and a nationwide delivery service.
But up until now, it’s been pretty tricky to get your hands on the delicacies outside of Bolton.
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Carrs Pasties has been “baking perfect pasties” for the past 83 years / Credit: Carrs Pasties
For the foodies that are keen to tuck into a pasty on the road, Carrs has announced that it has submitted a planning application to upgrade the main Summerfield Road site to predominantly be a production and distribution facility.
It comes after the COVID-19 pandemic was said to have forced the business to revise how it operates going forward.
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Speaking on the huge expansion plans, managing director Joe Carr told Bolton News: “The blessing of COVID was that we had to innovate, and those who did innovate benefitted [so] we stopped serving fresh from the oven to all our partners and they now have to bake off frozen products.
“It’s fresher and better quality.”
He continued: “It’s opened up the whole of the UK and it has been a great success so far, so we hope to serve more and more people with what this town is proud of.”
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Mr Carr added that the company is “very excited” about the prospect of expanding across the UK, and says that “everywhere you see a Costa Coffee machine, we hope you’ll see a Carrs stall. In petrol stations and retail shops. You’ll see us up and down the country.”
The Carrs Pasties original recipe that has been passed down through three generations / Credit: Carrs Pasties
A big part of the Carrs expansion also aims increase employment opportunities, and to adopt an eco-friendlier set-up, with the company aiming to reduce its gas use and make every pasty van electric within the next decade, and Mr Carr adding: “Everyone is driving towards a better, greener future. It’s the right thing to do. We never even questioned that we wouldn’t do it.
“Our target is to also reduce the gas we are using for our ovens and every van in our fleet will be electric in 10 years.
“As we continue to expand, there will be more retail shops in what we call the Greater Bolton area, so you might see one pop up in Manchester, for example, but it has to be the right opportunity.”
Featured Image – Carrs Pasties
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Government to begin giving millions of UK workers ‘significant’ pay rises from this week
Emily Sergeant
The Government is to begin giving more than three million workers across the UK a ‘significant pay boost’ from this week.
Announced as part of last year’s Budget, and in a bid to ‘put thousands of pounds back in the pockets of working people every year’, the Government confirmed back at the beginning of February that a new National Living Wage of £12.21 per hour, and a new National Minimum Wage of £10 per hour would take effect from April onwards.
Ministers said the 6.7% increase to the National Living Wage – which is now worth £1,400 a year for an eligible full-time worker – is a ‘significant step’ towards delivering the manifesto commitment to deliver a ‘genuine’ living wage.
Today, millions of working people will get a pay rise as the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage increase.
New rates:
🔹 from £11.44 to £12.21 if you’re 21 and over 🔹 from £8.60 to £10.00 if you’re 18-20 🔹 from £6.40 to £7.55 if you’re under 18 or an apprentice
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) April 1, 2025
On top of this, the National Minimum Wage for 18-20-year-olds is also set to go up by a record increase of £1.40 an hour, which means full-time younger workers eligible for the rate will see their pay boosted by £2,500 a year.
The minimum wage pay boot has also been called the first step towards removing the ‘unfair’ age-bands that see a 21-year-old getting paid more than a 20-year-old for doing the same job.
According to the Government, this is also the first time the National Living Wage has taken into account the cost of living and inflation.
Three million UK workers will be getting a ‘significant’ pay rise from this week / Credit: Pexels
“In the last Parliament, living standards were the worst on record and sky-high inflation was crushing working people’s finances,” commented Chancellor Rachel Reeves, explaining why the pay boosts are being introduced.
“Making work pay is good for workers, will strengthen businesses’ workforces, and will grow our economy for years to come.
“It’s a key milestone on my number one mission to get more money in people’s pockets as we deliver our Plan for Change.”
Not only that, but the minimum hourly wage for an apprentice is also set to be boosted later this year too, with an 18-year-old apprentice seeing their minimum hourly pay increase by 18% to £7.55 an hour.
As a result of these particular changes, a further four million workers also could benefit from the positive spill-over impacts of the rate increases.
Featured Image –
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Body of woman found in River Mersey last year finally identified after ‘extensive’ investigation
Emily Sergeant
The body of woman who was found in the River Mersey last year has finally been identified.
Following what has been described as an ‘extensive investigation’ by Greater Manchester Police‘s (GMP) Major Incident Team to determine the identity of the body, which was sadly discovered in the river adjacent to Chorlton Water Park on 21 March 2024, the family of the victim has now been informed and supported by specialist officers.
The victim has been formally named as 38-year-old Laura Stanley, who was originally from Derbyshire but was living in Stockport.
After the body was discovered, and ‘exhaustive and determined’ investigation by GMP officers began to identify here, including detailed checks of both national and international databases.
The Major Incident Team (MIT) also closely worked in collaboration with specialist forensic service providers to create an anthropological profile, which eventually culminated in the creation of a facial reconstruction image.
Following several media appeals, a relative of Laura contacted officers and then a DNA match was confirmed through a familial link.
“Laura was a kind and gentle person with a great sense of fun and adventure,” Laura’s family said in a heartbreaking tribute to her.
“She was generous, thoughtful, caring and always keen to volunteer within the community. Laura was a proud and loving mum and she will be greatly missed by her girls and all of her friends and family who loved her dearly.”
The River Mersey, across from Chorlton Water Park, where Laura’s body was discovered / Credit: Wikimedia Commons
While Laura has now been identified, police say further investigations will take place to understand her last movements, the events that led to her death, and her discovery in the river.
Additionally, as is standard practice, GMP’s Professional Standards Directorate is also reviewing a previous missing report relating to Laura in the time before the discovery of her body, which will determine prior contact relating to Laura, and whether the appropriate measures were enacted.
#UPDATE | A woman who was discovered in the River Mersey last year has been identified following an extensive investigation by officers in GMP’s Major Incident Team.
Thank you to those of you who have shared our appeals over the last year.
Anyone who knew Laura and thinks they may be able to assist with the investigation is asked to contact police by calling 101, or by using the Live Chat Service at gmp.police.uk, quoting log number 1191 of 21 March 2024.
Alternatively, you can contact the Major Incident Team Syndicate 3 directly on 0161 856 9479, or the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Emily Sergeant -
24th February 2022 
