Crown and Thistle pub owners to open new bakery in Darwen

Mo and Julie Zhabi who run The Crown and Thistle on Roman Road in Darwen are hoping to officially open the new Crown and Thistle Bakery on Blackburn Road on Tuesday.

The bakery, which will be overseen by the pub's head chef Wayne Cortilla, and baker Dean Crowther, will serve homemade pies and ice cream, cakes and milkshakes, and will also feature a huge salad bar for people wanting lunch on the go.

Based in the former Tunstill's Bakery, which was put up for sale earlier in the pandemic, the bakery is hoping to eventually offer a dine-in experience and serve up hearty take-away pub meals similar to those available in the Crown and Thistle Pub.

Mr Cortilla, 42, said: "Throughout lockdown we made a lot of free meals for the elderly and vulnerable, and Julie, who makes all the cakes for the pub made cakes for community too and we wanted to carry on doing something similar.

"So when we saw that Tunstill's had been put up for sale, Mo, who owns the pub, bought the building and the rest is history.

"The Crown and Thistle has a really good reputation for its fresh cream cakes and pies, and Tunstill's was really popular in Darwen so we wanted to combine the two, and hopefully the people of Darwen will welcome us - there seems to have been a lot of interest in the bakery already so we're really looking forward to it."

Despite not having a sign for the shop front yet, and with a few more finishing touches to add, the Crown and Thistle Bakery is set to open on Tuesday.

For more information and to follow the journey from pub to bakery, visit the Crown and Thistle Pub's Facebook page or the new Crown and Thistle Bakery Facebook page.