Major bakery chain to open 40 new stores in 2025: Boss reveals major expansion plans despite High Street revolts over bakery being 'ultimate sign of gentrification'
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Gail's plans to open up to 40 more stores next year and hire another 1,000 staff as the bakery firm presses on with expansion plans despite bitter 'gentrification' rows. The upmarket chain has enjoyed rampant growth over the past three years and is now valued at an estimated £500million - more than double the £200million in 2021.
![[Customers visit the Walthamstow Village branch of Gail's after it opened following a backlash]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/20/11/93349515-14213557-image-a-2_1734692580216.jpg)
Gail's has also expanded from 70 bakeries to 150 over the same time period, having only opened its first site less than two decades ago in London's Hampstead in 2005. The chain's chief executive and co-founder Tom Molnar has revealed he is targeting £300million in sales next year amid plans to open another 30 to 40 bakeries in 2025.
![[Gail's chief executive and co-founder Tom Molnar is targeting £300million in sales next year]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/20/11/93349579-14213557-image-m-9_1734692781182.jpg)
Gail's believes it has benefited from the high street crisis of empty stores, taking on sites with favourable deals from landlords desperate for rent income after a closure. Now, it has also opened its first outlets at major travel hubs - first at London St Pancras train station on December 12 and then at London Bridge station today.
![[Gail's pro-Brexit and anti-lockdown chairman Luke Johnson is pictured at the Soho branch]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/20/11/93349543-14213557-image-a-8_1734692726537.jpg)
The site at St Pancras was described by the bakery chain's property director Brett Parker this week as being 'designed to reflect the warmth and generosity of Gail's in a slightly more formal way than is perhaps seen in their London village bakeries'.
![[Gail's has faced a 'gentrification' backlash in some areas when trying to open new stores - most notably in Walthamstow Village in East London, pictured on its opening day in October]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/20/11/93349521-14213557-image-a-12_1734693032511.jpg)
He added that it was a 'cross between a business lounge and a bakery' and has a 'creative acknowledgement' of New York's iconic Grand Central railway station. Gail's bakery opens its new outlet at Walthamstow Village in East London on October 3. Customers visit the Walthamstow Village branch of Gail's after it opened following a backlash.
![[Baristas serve drinks to customers at the branch of Gail's at Walthamstow Village in October]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/20/11/93349523-14213557-image-a-4_1734692691040.jpg)
