Fat Thursday in Leeds: Karpaty Bakery in Armley sells over 1,500 doughnuts in less than six hours

‘Fat Thursday’ is known as tłusty czwartek in Poland and involves people buying their favourite pastries from their local bakeries, giving them the opportunity to overindulge ahead of Lent. Doughnuts are traditionally bought, as are angel wings, which are made out of dough that has been shaped into thin twisted ribbons, deep-fried and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Karpaty Bakery, located in Armley Town Street, had sold over 1,500 doughnuts by 12:50pm and people were already queuing outside when the bakery opened at 7am.

Employee Eva Saroj said: “It’s all about the Polish stuff. We love doughnuts, same as the UK, it’s a bit like pancake day, we have Fat Thursday. It gets very, very busy. We opened at 7am today and straight away, there was a queue. We got 1,695 doughnuts today and we have 150 left.”

Staff said jam doughnuts had proven to be the most popular treat of the day, but customers had also enjoyed a range of the other goods on offer. The bakery experienced a similar rush last year, selling over 1,000 doughnuts in four hours.

This year, people have been visiting to buy up to 50 doughnuts at a time, with some even forking out £100 on pastries. Many have taken treats back to their families or their places of work.

Eva said: “People were buying 30 to 50 doughnuts. People are spending £40, £60 and £100 on doughnuts today and taking it to places they work or for their family. I don’t think we’ll run out because we’re baking all the time.”