Customers devastated after iconic Lancashire bakery firm Oddie's closes its doors after 120 years

A much-loved family-run bakery firm is closing its doors for good after 120 years - after a prospective buyer pulled out of negotiations "at the eleventh-hour".

Lancashire bakery Oddie's employs more than 100 people across its 13 stores in Burnley, Colne, Foulridge, Nelson, Padiham and Todmorden, but it will be shutting up shop on 11 January for the last time.

A post on their website reads; "After 120 years we are closing our doors.

"The last day of trading will be Saturday 11th January. We have loved being part of your lives."

In November the company was put up for sale due to soaring costs and declining footfall.

Bosses said an eleventh-hour withdrawal by an unnamed buyer had "left us with no choice but to consider closure".

After four generations the family-run firm had been hoping to secure an urgent rescue deal to avoid closing all 13 locations and employed Azets, the UK top ten accounting and advisory firm, alongside Brabners Solicitors, in a bid to secure its future.

In November, Lara Oddie, a director of the bakery, said in a statement: "Oddie’s is a fourth-generation family business, started in 1905 by William Henry Oddie.

"Over the decades, it has withstood two world wars and their food scarcity, the Great Depression, the fall of Lancashire's cotton industry, the rise of powerful supermarkets, and even the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced us to adapt our entire operating model.

"But with an energy crisis quadrupling costs and footfall declining on the high streets, the Oddie family decided it was time to sell.

"Sadly, an eleventh-hour withdrawal by the buyer has left us with no choice but to consider closure.

"As a family firm, we have always seen ourselves as part of the local community fabric, making this a heartbreaking situation for us, our devoted staff, and the loyal customers in Burnley and Pendle who have cherished our our unique products."