The Rise in Buckley is named a Best Bakery finalist

We had a fantastic response to a call for nominations from readers, and now our top 10 finalists are all hoping to rise to the occasion

Voting is now open, and voting forms can be found in the Leader until Friday, September 12. Pick up a copy and show some support for your favourite.

Ahead of the big reveal, we get to know some of the finalists...

The Rise - Bistre Community Centre, Nant Mawr Road, Buckley

Owner Sam Jones couldn't have picked a better day to open the bakery, launching three years ago on Buckley Jubilee Day.

Bakery manager Andrew Cooper (left) and baker Simon Jones.

Basing the business at their current venue was a bit of a full circle moment for the baker, his parents were caretakers at the site when it was a school, back in 1975.

His initial goal with the project was to create something the community would enjoy.

Sam said: "We've just started our third year and it's been amazing.

The Rise in Buckley.

"I was a baker in the last bakery that was open in Buckley in the mid 90s, then went on to build bakeries all around the world.

"The building we're in now was pretty much derelict, and we wanted to create both sports and educational areas, a nursery and community space.

"The economic engine for all that was to be the bakery and cafe, which is what we've built."

Cafe counter at The Rise in Buckley.

Community is what motivates Sam, and is at the heart of The Rise, which employs 15 full-time staff.

He added: "We created this with the customer in mind, and it's all about the product. If that's right, the consumer will follow.

"And of course it's a fabulous meeting place, where people can sit and enjoy fresh baked breads."

The Rise in Buckley.

Breads at The Rise don't include additives, and everything is done with time. For example, their signature sourdough is 72 hours in construction.

Same explains: "Everything is about generating flavours and crusts but where else can you take a bread out the oven at 9am, and put it directly on the plate of the person having their breakfast?

"It's the authenticity of paying credence to old recipes and processes, at the same as providing a commerciality.

Fresh breads at The Rise in Buckley.

"Some of the recipes we run have been in operation for hundreds of years.

"When we first started we were getting a couple of hundred people a week, now it's 1,000.

"The team is definitely doing something good, we're extremely proud of what they do and what we continue to create."

The Rise in Buckley.

Visitors will find modern surroundings at The Rise but that respect and reflect the tradition of what the building is.

They will then be immediately hit with a counter full of freshly baked goods: savouries, pies and pastries, countertop cakes or fresh cream cakes, and a sea of breads just out of the oven.

Sam adds: "I'm a Buckley person through and through, and fortunately I've been able to travel the world, so to do something in my home town was something I always wanted to do.

Fresh cream cakes at The Rise in Buckley.

"To have this right in the centre of it all is something that makes me very proud.

"To win wouldn't be about what we've done but all of us as a community. We've done something with the community, for the community and used by the community, is what matters. So it would be something they should celebrate, not me."