Bakery Counter

Good bread is one of the great pleasures of the table, and the small craft bakeries of our region are exceptionally talented at making bread as it should be. One of our smallest suppliers, Staff of Life, is an artisan bakery in Kendal. Owners Simon and Julie are members of Slow Food, which we’re proud to support, and their belief in letting time and yeast work their magic produces some very special loaves. As well as being sold in 21 of our stores, these breads take pride of place on the menu of our Artisan restaurant in Kendal. Our baguettes and other French treats, like brioches and macaroons, come from Chateau Blanc in northern France. They make their bread dough simply, freeze it and send it to us to be baked in our stores.

Our partnerships with artisan bakeries include working with the Appleby Bakery, near Carlisle, to recreate bakes based on traditional Cumbrian recipes. Jackie and her team are hard at work on a recipe for Cumberland Rum Nicky, a sticky date slice which uses the spices and rum popular in regional dishes due to Whitehaven’s historical significance as a port. For tea-table classics, we rely on Lathams of Broughton and Bells of Lazonby, both Northwest bakeries whose approach ensures that there really is no situation that can’t be improved by the presence of cake.