A York village bakery which prides itself on only using high quality, local produce has been hailed as one of the best in the area by Press readers.

Haxby Bakehouse, in Ryedale Court, has been nominated for The Press Best Bakery competition.

Readers can vote for the Best Bakery 2024 by picking up copies of The Press newspaper until Saturday, September 14, with the winner set to be announced the week of Monday, September 23.

Husband-and-wife team Phil and Tina Clayton started the business 16 years ago when they turned the Haxby premises from a health food shop into a bakery and delicatessen.

Pastries by Haxby Bakehouse, which has been nominated for The Press Best Bakery competitionPastries by Haxby Bakehouse, which has been nominated for The Press Best Bakery competition (Image: Haxby Bakehouse)

Tina runs the original site, with a café and deli counter and bakery at the back, where the pastries and cakes are made.

Phil, meanwhile, works as a baker at the bakehouse’s larger production unit at Clifton Moor, which opened last year and also houses its Unit café.

“It’s still interesting,” he said, reflecting on over a decade in the job. “I choose to bake daily, I’m still a full-time baker.”

Pastries by Haxby Bakehouse, which has been nominated for The Press Best Bakery competitionPastries by Haxby Bakehouse, which has been nominated for The Press Best Bakery competition (Image: Supplied)

The business has become known for its sourdough, which Phil holds to a high standard.

“We’re not aiming to make our bread middle-of-the-road,” he explained. “We’re trying to get as much flour in the bread as we can.

The team at The Unit by Haxby Bakehouse with Phil Clayton, rightThe team at The Unit by Haxby Bakehouse with Phil Clayton, right (Image: Supplied)

“It takes three days to make our main sourdough.”

When Haxby Bakehouse started in 2008, Phil said, it came during a “resurgence of bread” – when people were focusing more on the quality of what they were eating, rather than quickly made produce from supermarkets.

'When it’s good, we know it’s really good'

Phil learned on the job and also from a three-day training course with Andrew Whitley in the Lake District, who found one of the UK's first organic, artisan bakeries in 1976.

He also explained how, during the early days of the business, he would share tips and recipes on Twitter with other bakers across the UK, Ireland and beyond, to improve products.

Despite becoming a popular business in York – supplying between 35 to 40 businesses in the area – he’s still looking to make improvements where he can, and only selects the best bread for customers to enjoy.

“I’m probably too critical,” Phil admitted. “When it’s good, we know it’s really good.”

Recommended reading:

After Haxby Bakehouse was revealed as a nominee for The Press Best Bakery competition, he said: “I wasn’t aware that we got nominated which was good.

“We’ve done nothing to ask people to nominate us and they have which is nice.”

Tina added: “Our business prides itself on using local/independent growers and producers for ingredients.

“Our staff are an integral part of our business, and we are very proud to have a team who are as passionate about what we do as much as we are.”