ANY northerner knows a barm's a barm... except for Bolton-based Warburtons Bakery causes heated online debate after asking what people call a roll But they did not include barm, popular term in Bolton, as an option Bakery has said it wanted to ignite passionate debate with bread lovers across the country Anyone from that part of the world would know a barm's a barm, but Bolton-based Warburtons has caused a stir in their home-town after they asked their customers what they called a roll. The bakers caused a heated online debate after they posed the question, but did not even include barm, the popular term for a roll in that part of north west England, as an option. The family bakers, founded by Thomas and Ellen Warburton in 1896, still has a base in the town - including the digital team who posted the gaffe. Bolton-based Warburtons caused a stir in its home town after asking customers what they called a bread roll in an online poll, but did not include the popular local term - barm In a straw poll carried out by local newspaper The Bolton News, four out of six shoppers called it a barm, as did most of those in a Facebook survey. The bakery has said all it wanted to do was to ignite a passionate debate with bread lovers from around the country. Tearmh France, corporate communications manager at Warburtons, said: 'Our digital team are from Bolton, as is the bakery itself. 'I've had a chat with them and they said that it isn't a definitive list and if people from Bolton are really passionate about calling it a barm, then go onto our Facebook page and tell us about it. 'We hope we haven't offended anyone from Bolton. It's just a fun poll that we thought would start a nice little debate around the country.' John Carr, at Carrs Pasties, said: 'Back in my day we called them flour cakes, but nowadays the most popular term around Bolton and parts of the North West is barm cake.' The family bakers still has a base in the town - including the digital team who posted the gaffe The name barm cake arose from the use of barm - the foam formed on the top of beer - to make bread dough rise. A barm cake traditionally had a strong flavour that came from the barm itself. Today, the barm cake - or barm for short - is more likely to be made from commercial yeast.