Family devastated as bakery is ravaged by fire

Date Published: 29-Jun-2011

A devastating fire in one of the county’s most renowned bakeries destroyed part of the plant which employs ten people.

Luckily, nobody was injured in the blaze at the Foods of Athenry bakery at Oldcastle, Kilconieron, five miles outside the town of Athenry.

It is thought to have begun at about 10am on Wednesday after the morning’s produce had left for deliveries.

Four units of the fire brigade fought the blaze, which took over part of the converted agricultural buildings.

At one stage the fire crews were unable to enter the buildings because of the heat inside.

Speaking to the Connacht Tribune as two extra units of the fire brigade had just arrived, owner Paul Lawless was distraught. “It’s devastating,” he said.

He said he did not know w

hat had caused the fire. It was “way too early” to speculate when the bakery might be back operating.

“The wheat side of it is destroyed, the gluten-free side isn’t. The dispatch area is gone but that’s cosmetic. We’re salvaging what we can,” he said.

The artisan food business was set up by Paul and his wife Siobhan in a converted bicycle shed in 2000. The family looked to diversify from dairy farming after struggling to raise a family of five on a small milk quota.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.