Inside the hidden Greater Manchester bakery that’s home to some of the city’s best bakers, croissants and coffee

Tucked down a quiet backstreet in the Northern Quarter, the team behind Companio are preparing for another busy day at their brand new bakery and cafe. Over the last few years, the Ancoats-born bakery has firmly established itself as one of the city’s best bakeries, attracting long queues for its fresh sourdough loaves, pastries and Viennoiserie.

Originally established in 2015 by Russell Goodwin following a crowdfunding campaign, its flagship site on Radium Street in Ancoats quickly became a baking hub for fresh breads, which would then be sold in Victoria train station.

In 2019 though, it was taken on by clinical scientist Baneta Yelda and Neil Large, a project manager in construction, who, after completing a baking course at The School of Artisan Food, decided to purchase the business. Under their stewardship, it’s become a go-to for its slow-fermented sourdough and crowd-pleasing almond croissants made in small batches.

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Companio’s only issue was that it was always going to outgrow its postage-stamp sized site in Ancoats. Now, five years since taking on the bakery, they’ve been able to expand into a second site on the corner of Spear Street and Warwick Street.

The light and airy space just down from Stevenson Square, with its glass-fronted windows, open baking area and shaping table, is all about giving loyal customers - and those yet to try the bakery - a chance to see their bakers at action, whilst also building on the relationships Baneta and Neil established with them during the pandemic.

Baneta, originally from Iraq, came to the UK as a refugee 10 years ago, but says the community they’ve built around their flagship site has stopped her from feeling homesick.

“When we decided we wanted to open somewhere and the bakery came up for sale, it ticked a lot of boxes,” she reflects. “We really loved the area and how Russell had set up the bakery, then there was the community aspect too.”

However, despite attracting long queues at its Radium Street bakery over the last few years, resulting in hundreds of social media posts about its speciality breads, savouries and Viennoiserie, she didn’t expect it to take off as much as it has.

“We never thought it would become this big thing. We always had a plan, however we didn’t come from a baking background and hadn’t run a food business before, but we’ve had lots of support from the community. We also showed a lot of resilience during lockdown by carrying on - I think really helped us build up our community.

“Our customers have become friends, people who invite us to their weddings, or we know their kids, and some elderly people come in on set days so we know what specials they like. It’s a really beautiful thing.

“Both of us are not from here, but we don’t feel homesick because you’re not just coming to work, you’re part of a big family.”

While both Baneta and Neil trained at Nottingham's School of Artisan Food, they each bring their own experiences to the bakery. In Baneta’s case her strong family heritage in baking - her grandmother was a prolific community baker in Iraq - helps her bring an individual flavour and heritage to the business.

Neil meanwhile had always been a strong cook and wanted to work within the food industry. Following the sudden passing of his brother, Ian, Neil decided to make a career change and completed his training, achieving an Advanced Diploma in Artisan Baking with distinction in 2019.

“We don’t see ourselves as an Instagrammable bakery, we just love what we do,” she adds. “Baking is a hardcore job and I would say what sets it apart is the quality of what we make here - we don’t compromise. We source our ingredients very carefully and we make traditional bakes but there’s always a little twist.

All breads are sourdoughs, naturally leavened with wild yeasts, and made by hand using traditional methods. The slow fermentation process Companio has adopted gives a deeper, richer taste that accentuates the flavours of the flours, grains and seeds. Baguettes, ciabattas and focaccia are also baked daily and along with the croissants can take a couple of days to make sure they have proved enough.

At the new site, its bread range - encompassing its Ancoats White sourdough, Salford-5-Sead, Pennie Rye, Mad Brod meal bread, and country sourdough - sits alongside sweet bakes such as fruit Danish, chocolate chip brownies surprise pudding and a speciality hazelnut chocolate croissant.

A daily changing menu of sandwiches served on ciabatta will include the likes of egg mayonnaise, cheese and onion, brie with chilli jam, and mozzarella with pesto and tomato. Companio’s suppliers, including Organic North, will also be making deliveries of fresh vegetables for customers to grab alongside baguettes and bakes.

“We source our flour from Wild Farm, which uses grains from smaller farms in the UK and France, while Organic North allowed us to not have a minimum order when we were really small, coffee from Allpress, and in the new space we’ll also be able to work with Chorlton Cheesemongers.

The new site has only been open for a few days, but Baneta is already excited for what’s to come. “The ability to speak to people when they sit in the bakery is great. It’s sort of like having a studio apartment and then moving into a bigger flat so you have a living room and people aren’t sitting on a bed anymore," she adds.

“It’s lovely having space for regulars and speaking to them, and they can watch the bread and bakes being made at the shaping table. The whole place is covered in glass so people get to watch all that and I hope that inspires more people to become bakers or take it up as a hobby.”

Companio's new bakery and cafe is located at Unit 1, 60 Spear St, Manchester M1 1AW, UK. Its other site in Ancoats will remain open too.