Hive Bakehouse opens in Westhoughton’s Provenance Food Hall

Hive Bakehouse has today, Friday, March 8, opened a stall inside Provenance Food Hall, Café & Tea Rooms, on Market Street, Westhoughton.

Known as a ‘shop within a shop’ Hive Bakehouse will be selling a range of baked goods and owner Sam Oldham, 30, said he is ‘excited’ for this new venture that came around earlier than he expected.

The former Warburtons executive, Sam, said: “We have been looking for a presence on Westhoughton high street for a while which we could open in the future.

“And Paul Rodgers who is the new owner of Provenance Food Hall reached out to us after he bought the location at the back end of last year.

Hive Bakehouse bread (Image: Sam Oldham)“Paul wanted to bring local specialist businesses together to create somewhat of a little hub in Provenance.

“We have been given a bakery fixture and we will be supplying baked goods, there is also a cheese counter in the hall, Harwoods Patisserie as well as a butchers and for us it felt like a good fit.

“It is very central for us, and it is in our hometown as well, so it felt like a bit of a no brainer for us, we are excited.

“We have a stall where our goods are displayed and we will be doing fresh deliveries five days a week and customers can purchase the products from the Provenance Food Hall staff.

• Bake Off star's new patisserie in town centre is already proving a huge hit

• Bolton: Ladies Empowerment Circle event to be hosted by MAFS star

• Equipment installed in 'really well used park' after 12 year absence

“Each morning there will be a delivery, the products will be put out and then customers can just come in and then be served by the food hall team.

“Our stall will be following the same opening hours as Provenance so that is 8am to 4pm Tuesday to Saturday, it will be until stocks last each day, as soon as it is gone it is gone for the day.”

Sam, who first set up Hive Bakehouse from his back garden in lockdown also recently opened a unit in Westhoughton in December after his business rapidly grew.

Sam said: “I feel confident with the stall, there has been a lot of preparation for it, we have done a lot of work in the bakery and bought new equipment and we have reorganised our own bakery to make sure we have the capacity.

Delicious treats (Image: Sam Oldham)“It is all going quite quickly for us as a business, more is happening this year than we had originally planned for, the pace is definitely stepping up which is great, it is fantastic.

“We also have other things on the pipeline so we can continue to grow in the right direction but overall, we have had a great start to 2024.”

Sam, who grew up in Westhoughton, founded the company in 2021 baking from his own kitchen and selling the goods from a pop-up shop in his back garden.

Sam now commits all his time to growing the Hive brand as well as working on-site in the bakery and now expanding his business even further in Provenance Food Hall.

There will be a range of baked goods each day at the Hive Bakehouse Provenance Food Hall stall including sourdough breads, focaccia, pastries, a new walnut and raisin rye sourdough, a range of standard sliced loaves, a number of different croissants, and they will also be bringing out bagels soon.

If you have a story or something you would like to highlight in the community, please email me at chloe.wilson@newsquest.co.uk or DM me on X @chloewjourno.