Yesterday evening, Sean Coughlan posted a video on Facebook. He looked like he hadn’t slept. He said he was sitting there with “a massively heavy heart” and that he had news he never thought he’d have to deliver in his lifetime. Then he shared the news of Coughlan’s Bakery’s closure; the family business his grandfather Jack started in Croydon back in 1937 was closing. All of it. Every single shop. Done. By the morning of July 1, 2026, all 32 stores across south London, Surrey, Kent, and West Sussex had shut their doors. Around 165 members of staff were out of work. An 89-year-old bakery, third-generation, one that had survived a world war and a pandemic, had gone into voluntary liquidation, just like that.
- Coughlans Bakery entered voluntary liquidation on June 30, 2026, closing all 32 stores with immediate effect
- Founded in 1937 by Jack Coughlan in Croydon. Three generations of the same family ran it for 89 years
- April’s National Insurance hike added £20,000 per week to the bakery’s costs, which managing director Sean Coughlan called the breaking point
- Comedian Romesh Ranganathan became a co-owner in 2024. He reposted Sean’s video with the caption “Gutted isn’t the word”
- Two summer heatwaves in June cut store revenue to roughly 50% of normal while costs stayed the same
- The company had actually been growing, turnover up 9% to £6.8 million in FY25 and losses shrinking before April hit
What Actually Happened?
This wasn’t a business that had been struggling for years and finally gave up. Coughlans had opened two new stores in 2025. Turnover had gone up 9% to £6.8 million. Losses had been falling, from £229,600 in FY24 down to £98,800 by September 2025. Sean Coughlan described March 2026 as “a fantastic month.” There were 41 members of the Coughlan family deep into this business, three generations, nearly a century. It wasn’t dying. It was growing. Then April arrived. The government’s increase in employer National Insurance Contributions came into effect.
Minimum wage went up too. The combination hit Coughlans for an extra £20,000 a week on top of what they were already paying. Not a month. A week. For a bakery running on tight margins with 32 shops to staff and a 25,000 square foot production site in Thornton Heath to keep running, that number was catastrophic. “As soon as April’s new government rules on NI, wages and rates hit, it instantly hits the high street,” Sean wrote on social media. On top of that, fuel prices had risen sharply following the US-Israeli intervention in Iran, which pushed up distribution costs.
And then came two heatwaves across the South East in June. Bakeries don’t do well in heatwaves. People don’t want hot pastries when it’s 35 degrees outside. Revenue dropped to roughly half of what it normally would be across those weeks. The outgoings didn’t move at all. Sean called the heatwaves the nail in the coffin. The NI hike had already built it.
The Romesh Connection
In late 2024, comedian and Crawley native Romesh Ranganathan became a co-owner of Coughlans. He’d been a fan for a while, apparently drawn in by their plant-based range, and had gone as far as serving behind the counter himself. The bakery made a “Ranga Yum Yum” in his honour. He was at the Maidenbower shop in Crawley for events.
Sean Coughlan described him as someone who gave everything from the heart, and in his video said he felt the family had let Romesh down. Ranganathan reposted the closure announcement to his 1.4 million Instagram followers with three words: “Gutted isn’t the word.” Sean also updated the count of family members who’d worked in the business over its 89-year history, changing it from 41 to 42 to include Ranganathan as an honorary Coughlan.
Why does this matter beyond one bakery?
Coughlans isn’t the only business saying this. The NI hike has been blamed for job cuts and closures across the hospitality and retail sector since April. But there’s something particularly pointed about an 89-year-old, third-generation, family-run bakery in south London being the one that couldn’t absorb it. These are not businesses with finance departments and shareholder reserves to draw on.
They are people running shops, baking bread before the rest of the street is awake, paying their staff and suppliers every week out of what comes through the till. When costs jump by £20,000 a week with no warning period to adjust, there’s nowhere to go. One commenter under the Londonist piece said it plainly: “If a business like Coughlans can’t make it work, how’s anyone else supposed to?” It’s the kind of question that doesn’t have a comfortable answer right now. Sean’s final message on social media ended with a plea: “Please, please please remember to shop local. Our high streets need your love.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Coughlan’s Bakery close?
Basically, April destroyed them. The NI hike and minimum wage increase landed at the same time and added £20k a week to what they were already paying out. That’s not something a family bakery can absorb. Then fuel costs went up because of the situation in Iran, and two back-to-back heatwaves meant people just weren’t coming in. Revenue dropped to half. Bills didn’t. That was it.
When did they close?
June 30, 2026. Announced that evening, shut the same day. No phased closure, no wind-down period. Just done.
How many shops did they have?
32 across south London, Surrey, Kent, and West Sussex. Plus a production site in Thornton Heath that had apparently been a working bakery for around 200 years before Coughlans took it over in 1971.
What’s Romesh Ranganathan got to do with it?
He became a co-owner in 2024. Properly involved, too, not just a name on a press release. He served behind the counter; they made a yum yum named after him, the whole thing. When Sean posted the closure video, Romesh shared it to his 1.4 million Instagram followers and just wrote – “Gutted isn’t the word.” Sean called him an honorary Coughlan.
Were they actually in trouble before this?
That’s the thing, not really. Turnover was up 9% from the previous year. Losses were coming down. Sean called March 2026 a fantastic month. They’d just opened new stores. Nothing about where they were heading suggested this was coming. April changed everything almost overnight.
How long had they been going?
89 years. Jack Coughlan started it on Mayday Road in Croydon in 1937. His grandson Sean was running it when it closed. 41 members of the family had worked there at some point across those three generations.
Sources and References
- Third-Generation Chain Coughlans Bakery Ceases Trading With 32 Shops Closed
- Romesh Ranganathan-Backed Coughlans Bakery Closes After Rising Costs
- Coughlans: South London Bakery Chain Co-Owned By Romesh Ranganathan Closes
- Bakery Chain Co-Owned By Romesh Ranganathan Closes Down
- Store Closures: Family-Run Bakery Shuts Doors After Nearly 100 Years
- Coughlans Bakery to Close All Branches After 89 Years
