“Hopefully there’ll be queues down the road”
Griffiths Bakery set to reopen on Bebington Road in New Ferry. Pictured Fiona Griffiths and Ritchie Hyland(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
A bakery which was famous for its chicken and ham pies is reopening in its hometown, eight years after its former site was destroyed in an explosion. On March 25, 2017, the Homes in Style furniture store blew up in New Ferry, along Bebington Road, levelling dozens of properties, closing several businesses, and injuring 81 people.
One of the businesses that was destroyed was Griffiths; a local bakery which was well-known in the area, particularly for its chicken and ham pies. Eight years on, Dave Griffiths, who founded the shop, had begun efforts to reopen but sadly died before he could do so.
In order to “carry on his legacy”, his daughter Fiona Griffiths and her business partner Ritchie Hyland have marched on with his plans to revive the business, which is expected to make a comeback in late June.
Announcing the news, Richie took to social media to say: “IT’S BACK!!! Our new business venture: the icon Griffiths, which got blown up in the New Ferry blast eight years ago..
“It was too good of an opportunity to turn down. It will be good for the town of New Ferry. Hope we can make it what it used to be like.”
The post had hundreds of shares, with Richie telling the ECHO: “Everyone’s loving it. As soon as we announced it, the post got thousands of likes. I didn’t expect it to be that big, to be honest. Hopefully there’ll be queues down the road when we open.”
Speaking about what prompted him and Fiona to take on the venture, he continued: “Eight years on, Fiona’s dad was going to reopen it, but he sadly passed away while setting all of it up. We want to carry on his legacy.
“Dave made the whole Griffiths name and all the recipes and pies – everything people love.”
Fiona added: “It was my dad’s life. He taught himself how to make all the pies. We’re keeping the recipes like they were.”
Reacting to the news of the bakery’s revival, one person said: “Amazing news. Griffith’s has been missed by a lot of the community.”
Another commented: “Wow. The sausages rolls from here hold a special place in my heart.”
On March 25, 2017, at 9:15pm, the Homes in Style store in the middle of New Ferry exploded, destroying or damaging 63 buildings in the surrounding area and injuring 81 people, two of them seriously. A dance studio in the same building had finished a class just a few hours earlier.
Remarkably, despite the colossal scale of the damage, no one was killed, though 21-year-old Lewis Jones suffered serious brain damage having been waiting at the bus stop just outside the store.
Pascal Blasio was later jailed for 20 years having been found guilty of causing an explosion likely to endanger life. Blasio had opened a gas valve and left an electric fire on in an insurance job gone wrong.