A lack of skilled bakers is holding back bread production at a Bradford bakery.

Carriages Continental Breads is searching for youngsters to take part in its Modern Apprenticeship scheme after being forced to turn down orders due to a lack of staff.

Owner Michael Hanson said: "It's absolutely soul destroying. There's enormous demand out there for specialist breads but there's hardly anyone who can make it."

Mr Hanson, who set up the bakery in Bowling Court Industrial Estate, East Bowling, three years ago, said during the past 20 years the popularity of baking as a trade had plummeted.

"People were put off by the pay, the conditions and the early mornings and as a result young bakers are hard to find," he said.

"A lot of small bakeries have gone to the wall so bakers have gone into other trades.

"Supermarkets have killed off a lot of smaller bakeries and there's a general lack of skill."

Carriages, which has a shop in Bradford's Wool Exchange and another in Leeds, bakes around 60 different types of bread from around the world, plus a range of pastries.

Authentic recipes and cooking methods are used.

The bakery delivers to hotels, restaurants, sandwich shops and delicatessens in Yorkshire and Manchester.

But, recently, requests for orders from Liverpool and York have had to be turned down due to the staff shortage.

Mr Hanson, who is the third generation to take up baking in his family, said: "It's flattering to get so many orders but not ideal when you can't deliver.

"I want Carriages to become a centre for learning, so that older bakers can pass on their skills to a new generation before they are lost.

"People are always going to eat bread so a good bread baker will never be out of work."

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