Every year here at Thomas the Baker we choose a different charity to support. In the past, these charities have included Marie Curie, Macmillan, Yorkshire Air Ambulance and more – you can find out more about each of these here. We work with charities in a vast range of ways, from fundraising events such as sponsored walks, food donations to local events and we’re more than happy to consider individual sponsorship requests too. For 2017/18, our chosen charity is Alzheimer’s Society, the UK’s leading dementia charity. During this time, our 34 stores across Yorkshire and the North East will be collecting donations and members of staff across the whole business will be participating in events such as a local Memory Walk – you can find one close to you here if you’re interested in taking part too. Alzheimer’s Society have also launched a initiative to get everyone involved in fundraising in an easy and positively fun way – Cupcake Day! This…

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It seems like Christmas is just around the corner, especially since everyone seemed to have their decorations up by the 1st December and had their gifts bought months in advance. But don’t worry if you’re not quite there with all the presents and food planning yet (we’re not!), as you’re not too late for Christmas with Thomas the Baker just yet! Are you planning a last minute Christmas party for your friends and family but don’t want the hassle of catering it all by yourself? We can help! Our fantastic range of Party Platters will see you through every Christmas and New Year celebration, plus we’ve got a handy discount code which will get you 5% off ALL of our platters! We kept this a secret in our newsletter for a few weeks, but if you’ve missed out on that, tap in the code XmasPlatter5 during the checkout process for 5% OFF your total order. The discount is available to…

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We’ve been very busy recently (aren’t we always?!), but we’ve got some big news to announce for you: we’re launching our brand new shiny website for Thomas the Baker today! Our old website was starting to look a little bit tired and we didn’t feel it was putting across the strong values that we pride ourselves on: family owned and run in the heart of North Yorkshire, using traditional techniques and local ingredients wherever possible, and, most importantly, providing our customers with high quality and award winning products at excellent value, in fact, at a price that might just surprise you! We’ve worked closely with Ripon based digital agency Bronco to create a website that is personal to us and our needs, and we’re proud to show off that finished product today. The brand new website we feel really shows off everything that’s good about Thomas the Baker: presenting the team that we’re proud to call our own, who are…

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Last year saw the Tour De France passing through Yorkshire and cycling fever ran riot. We’re nothing if not proud of our home county of North Yorkshire, so we’re very excited that the cycle race is returning again this year as the Tour de Yorkshire, even more so that a number of our shops and even our bakery will see the Tour passing by their front doors. Check out the route that the cyclists will be taking on the Biking Yorkshire site created by Blue Chip Holidays, and make sure you click onto Stage 3 and Helmsley to spot us making a little feature in the fact box! If anyone can name all the towns and villages that the tour will head through that are home to one of our Thomas the Baker stores, we’ll be very impressed! Have a look at our store list here for a few hints. In celebration of the event, we’ve put our best icers…

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Here at Thomas the Baker, we’re always looking for new and enthusiastic people to join our team in Yorkshire. We’re a fun and friendly bunch who just happen to love baking and cakes more than the average person, and we love finding more people like us. You might have stumbled upon this post, or maybe you saw the article all about our Saturday staff in the York Press? Nathan Church works in our King’s Square branch in York and stated that working for Thomas the Baker makes him “feel part of the family”, and that’s exactly how we want each and every one of our team to feel, whether they work Saturdays or seasonal work in a store, or part time or full time in the bakery. Here’s a quick rundown of roles we’re looking to fill at the moment – if you’re interested in any one of these, make sure to request an application form here. We will email…

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  Phew, we just keep getting busier and busier over here at Thomas the Baker! Well, it’s to be expected in the run up to Halloween and Christmas – did you know that by the time you’re just starting to think about Christmas around now, we’ve already got your Christmas puddings and cakes in production? Anyway, spot that lovely lady in above? That’s my sister Beth, according to the press release that’s gone out to the news this week, the “smart cookie” who is the brains behind the business (no one told me!). She’s been hard at work in the Confectionary department of the bakery recently helping to develop a few new products especially for her favourite time of year, Halloween, including these four handcrafted designs on shortbread biscuits that we’re calling “Spcookies”! The four ghoulish designs are a mummified monster, spooky skull, petrifying pumpkin and a Munster. But they’re not all we’re throwing into the ring for Halloween…after we…

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We’ve been so busy over at Thomas the Baker, creating new products while still keeping the old favourites just as good as ever, that we haven’t had much time to keep up with this blog! Nevertheless, we’ve got a new product hot on the shelves at the moment that we just had to share you with you while it’s still brand new: the Helmsley Plum Loaf. I was lucky enough to be able to sample this while it was still in production a couple of months ago and was definitely taken aback by it. While in the past I’ve never been a big fan of sweet loaves, apparently I am now, particularly with this plum bread! I’ve found it’s perfect to have as a snack any of time of the day, but my favourite ways to have it are as a tasty breakfast instead of a piece of buttered toast, or after a meal when you’re wanting something sweet but…

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As you might know, the voice behind this blog is Simon Thomas’ daughter, Sian – while I don’t currently work in the family business (I spent my school holidays doing that and wanting to eat everything!), I do help out with the blog and social media. But my day to day job is at a Digital Marketing Agency in Ripon, Bronco. Today is Christmas Jumper Day with Save the Children UK (#ChristmasJumperDay) so we decided that we would team up to our bit to support the charity. Everyone at Bronco turned up to work today in various styles of Christmas jumpers (take a look here for some close ups and to read more about it!) and Thomas the Baker donated a few of our favourite Christmas treats in order to help raise some money for the charity – Mince Pies, Tipsy Imps and Christmas Truffles. Many people in the office donated a few pounds to get some tasty treats, and Hannah…

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We always have an especially busy run in the weeks before Christmas here at Thomas the Baker, and this year has been no different to usual. Alongside our old favourite Christmas products that fly off the shelves like the Mince Pies, Tipsy Imps and Truffles, this year we’ve added a few new hampers packed full with yummy Thomas the Baker festive goodies to our range. The Hampers range from the smallest which is priced at a very reasonable £16.50 up to a large one stuffed with every Christmas taste you can imagine at £75, with a few sizes in between. They are available to buy in our online store where you can get them delivered to your home for only £7 (no matter how many you order to that address, the delivery cost will always be £7!); you can pop into one of our stores and order one directly from there; or you can visit our own Helmsley Delicatessen and Butchers,…

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Are you a student or young person who regularly shops at Thomas the Baker? Whether you’re just grabbing your lunch during the day at college, stocking up on loaves for the week, or simply treating yourself to something sweet, our 5% discount is available to all children from 5 and upwards as well as students on production of a valid NUS or student card. The discount is available in all Thomas the Baker stores (find your nearest one here now) starting next week. It will not be applied to your purchases automatically, so you need to remember to ask for the discount on your shopping each time. There’s no catch, you don’t need to sign up for anything or jump through any hoops, simply ask for the discount in store. The student & young person discount is on trial until Christmas, and if it’s working successfully and enough people are using it, we’ll continue it from then on, so show your…

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