A popular bakery has confirmed its town centre tearoom will close down within a matter of weeks.
The bottom end of Lynn’s High Street has suffered a fresh blow with the news that the Smiths the Bakers shop will shut at the end of this month.
The premises opened in 2017, providing an addition to the bakery on the Hardwick Narrows industrial estate.
Reduced footfall on the High Street and spiralling business rates brought in by the Labour Government have been cited as reasons for the closure.
It has been run by Cheryl Rix, the daughter of company owners Paul and Teresa Brandon.
A statement from Mr Brandon said: “Despite the continued success and growth of our wholesale bakery business, reflected in the recent award of the Kings Royal Warrant, for which we are hugely proud, our High Street shop/tearoom on the corner of the Saturday Market Place is regrettably closing at the end of September 2025.
“This is due to the changing High Street market place, with a combination of reduced passing footfall – the closure and ongoing empty Debenhams store not helping – together with constantly rising operational costs including those imposed by central government in the 2024 budget and increasing inflation leaving customers needing to prioritise spending.
“This has left us with no choice but to review the business requiring us to make this extremely difficult decision.”
The closure will result in five part-time staff being made redundant.
However, this is not expected to have any impact on the commercial bakery, which Mr Brandon says “continues to thrive and grow”.
“Our huge and sincere thanks to all our loyal shop/tearoom customers over the many years and we look forward to continuing being of service through our bakery and would welcome all enquiries,” he added.
The struggles faced by businesses along the ‘dead end’ of Lynn were laid bare by the Lynn News in an in-depth feature just a few weeks ago.
Dead, a disgrace, and “a bit of a mess” were just some of the words shop staff used to describe the area.
