EFFORTS by staff at a fire-ravaged Morrisons bakery have seen it return to almost full operation only five days after the blaze.

Around 300 bakers and support staff at the Rathbones bakery in Wakefield worked round the clock following a major blaze on Sunday July 3 which halted production.

Asa result, Morrisons is back delivering over 2.5 million freshly baked loaves and rolls a week to 11million customers.

The efforts of the bakery workers have been recognised by celebrity photographer Mikael Buck who travelled to the site to record the baking ‘heroes’. Buck, who has photographed stars like footballer David Beckham and pop star Sophie Ellis Bexter, turned his camera on the Bakers Dozen – 13 bakers who have worked round-the-clock to get bread on Morrisons customers’ tables – in a series of images that will be displayed at the bakery.

David Potts, Morrisons chief executive, said: “At our heart we are food makers and shopkeepers that exist to deliver fresh food to our customers. I am extremely proud of my colleagues in Wakefield who epitomise the spirit of Morrisons and thank them for their heroic efforts to get our dough back in the ovens and our bread and rolls back to our customers.”

Around 50 fire-fighters attended the blaze which gutted part of the 86,000 sq ft building near Wakefield.