Bakery serves up fresh opportunities

A Middlesbrough bakery is helping neurodivergent young people gain workplace skills while reviving a much-loved Teesside food tradition.

Breadsticks, based in Dundas Shopping Centre, is operated by local charity Glowsticks and works with young people with autism, ADHD and learning disabilities to provide training, confidence and employability support.

The bakery opened alongside the charity’s café, which launched above the site last year, and has already supported more than 40 young people through work experience and mentoring opportunities. 

Twelve participants have since moved into employment.

Seventeen-year-old Brett Stockdale, who has additional needs, said a year ago he couldn’t even make a cup of tea.  

Now he is a trained barista, working part-time in both the café and bakery.  

Brett, who is at college training to be a bricklayer, said: “I’ve learnt a bunch of new skills and it’s helped me with life.”  

The business has also seen strong demand for fadgies, the traditional triangular Teesside bread buns, with almost 250 sold each day.

Glowsticks has appointed new chef Aaron Muirhead, pictured below, and is now looking to recruit a skilled baker as customer demand continues to grow.

Aaron added: “I’ve got members of my family who are on the autism spectrum and they find it difficult day to day.  

“So, it’s nice to know they’re not alone and there are organisations like this who want to help them.”

Glowsticks says the commercial success of the bakery and café is key to sustaining future opportunities for young people across the region.

Founder Rebecca Ibbotson added that some young people arrive at Glowsticks “traumatised” by their previous experiences.  

She said: “But here they feel seen, they feel wanted and that gives them so much confidence. 

“They begin to understand the world of work and themselves. 

“We provide a training environment, bridging the gap between education and the real world.”

Charity trustee Pete Stockdale-Woodhead added: “They learn their skills first, then graduate to the bakery.  

“It’s a different, more transactional environment, not fast food but food on the go.”  

Richard Wilson, a partner with Stockton-based property management company Portland Dodds Brown, which manages the shopping centre, added: “As well as the opportunities it provides for young people, Glowsticks is also providing an invaluable service for customers, particularly students cutting through the Dundas on their way to college. 

“Despite the well-publicised closure of some big name retailers in Middlesbrough town centre, the Dundas Shopping Centre – and its immediate area – are attracting new independent businesses and that’s a positive sign for the future.”

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