The Glasgow bakery loved by city for almost 100 years

It was a favourite, thanks to its cakes, bread and classic roll and mince, and with 60 branches by the 1930s was second only to Lyons as the UK’s biggest retail baker.

It is almost 100 years since City Bakeries took over the Clarendon Street building where it all began in 1924.

It is almost 100 years since City Bakeries opened in Glasgow (Image: Newsquest)

There was a function hall above the one in Springburn, which regularly hosted weddings, while the dream for many a young teenager was to get a Saturday job in a local branch.

(And who can forget the classic Glasgow insult, “you’ve a face like a City Bakeries Halloween cake”?)

And many moons before Paul Hollywood and The Great British Bake Off (due to return to Channel 4 this autumn), the city had the Incorporation of Bakers, who made new entrants perform a practical test of their abilities.

Glasgow archivist Michael Gallagher explains: “Records of the Incorporation that we hold in the City Archives in the Mitchell Library show that, on one occasion, the aspiring bakers had to produce, ‘satisfactory specimens of beef-steak pies, veal pies, pigeon pies, pork pies, mutton pies, rabbit pies, apple tarts, plum tarts, pear tarts, frouchés, custards and souffles.’”

UCBS staff making biscuits in 1917 (Image: Glasgow City Archives)

He adds, with a laugh: “That would be enough to strike fear into the hearts of today’s Bake Off and Masterchef hopefuls.”

Glasgow enjoys a strong baking culture, adds Michael, which stretches all the way back to the middle of the 16th century.

Archivist Michael Gallagher (Image: Newsquest)

“An Act of Council dated 1556 decreed that the bakers (or “baxteris”) of Glasgow would have three “Mercat Dayes” each week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday,” he says. “Then, they were permitted to sell their bread at the Cross. The Glasgow bakers enjoyed a monopoly, since it was also stipulated that “nae outtentowneris” bread be sold on these days.”

He adds: “The Incorporation of Bakers met in various places before the building of the Trades Hall, including a wheat mill on the Kelvin, a number of taverns (in which the related outgoings could be entered under the convenient heading “expenses at a meeting”) and, by the early 1700s, the Bakers’ Hall, which was located just off the Saltmarket near present day St Andrew’s Street.”

Glasgow took its baking seriously, says Michael.

“In 1820, the magistrates inspected the bread sold by nearly 100 bakers and issued several fines for selling improper ‘light bread’,” he explains.

“They also sent 20 loaves to a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow, ‘for the purpose of ascertaining if the bread contained any deleterious matter.’”

Over the next century, baking became an important trade in the city. Large factories replaced the small shops and street traders that previously sold baked goods.

“One example was the magnificent United Co-operative Baking Society factory by Glasgow Green,” says Michael. “The Society was formed in 1869 to supply bread to the city’s co-op stores, and by 1958 baked half of all bread eaten in the city.

The UCBS factory seen from Glasgow Green (Image: Glasgow City Archives)

“Other firms such as Bilsland Brothers produced wrapped bread that could be sold in shops across the city, and Govan-based James Jack and Sons, founded in 1922, supplied morning rolls to some 800 shops.

“The noted suffragist, peace campaigner and Communist Helen Crawfurd (maiden name Jack) was a member of the family.”

He adds: “Glasgow City Archives holds some records of the firm, including an original recipe book compiled by James himself. As well as bread, this provides instructions on how to make snowballs and Paris buns.”

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As the twentieth century progressed, the range of baked goods available expanded enormously and some bakers opened tea-rooms to sell their wares.

“Perhaps the most famous was City Bakeries, and many readers will recall fondly its empire biscuits, pies and strawberry tarts,” adds Michael.

Other major biscuit manufacturers in the city included Macfarlane, Lang & Co and Gray, Dunn & Co.

“Whilst many of Glasgow’s classic traditional bakers have since hung up their aprons, the Incorporation still exists today, primarily as a charitable organisation,” adds Michael.

“And a new generation of artisan bread makers and pastry producers are continuing Glasgow’s baking tradition, ensuring that the trade’s future is in good, well-floured, hands.”

Send us your City Bakeries memories – and any stories and photos you have of Glasgow’s famous cake and biscuit manufacturers like Macfarlane and Gray, Dunn & Co. Email ann.fotheringham@glasgowtimes.co.uk or write to Ann Fotheringham, Glasgow Times, 125 Fullarton Drive, Glasgow G32 8FG.