A popular bakery has pulled out of Keighley with the loss of 15 jobs.

The Three Cooks, which had a shop and cafe in the Airedale Centre, blames the move on a planned rent rise.

The company, which has 293 outlets nationwide, closed its Keighley operation when trading finished on Saturday.

Managing director Martin Kibler told us yesterday: "We regret having to pull out of Keighley but we had no choice. The landlord was wanting a substantial increase in rent when business was not booming. While the shop and cafe were doing reasonably well, trade was not sufficient to cover such a large rent rise.

"We gave it several months in the hope that we could improve business sufficiently, but we were under pressure to sign up or get out. Unfortunately we had to make our staff - who were mostly part-time - redundant, but they have been treated as generously as possible."

Land Securities, owner of the Airedale Centre, says it had been expecting a renewal lease to be signed imminently.

A spokesman says: "Although the lease on the Three Cooks bakery and cafe expired in September last year, the tenants remained trading as we had agreed terms with them for a renewal lease which we were expecting to be signed at any time. We were pressing them to conclude documentation but then we heard they were closing down and had apparently served redundancy notices to all their staff.

"We tried to persuade them to stay, particularly with Christmas trade in mind, but they were adamant about closing."

Land Securities adds that although the closure will cause some inconvenience to shoppers, negotiations are already taking place with a potential new tenant.

If all goes well, the tenant - which is in the same type of business as the Three Cooks - could be trading early in the New Year.

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