Gretna Bakery goes back to the days of the 1st World War when the township of Gretna was built to house the workers who labored in the large ammunition works built in the area. Gretna was built on the “New Town” principle of the grid system of roads with one of each essential services within the town, including a bakers.
Gretna Bakery has been owned by numerous owners since the end of the 1st war. For the first five years the business traded solely from the shop in Central Ave. Gretna employing five people, also supplying some local hotels and caterers. A brisk trade in wedding cakes was always available due to the “runaway” weddings associated with Gretna Green.
In 1988 after the demise of the “Solway Bakery” in Carlisle, Gretna Bakery took the shop at 4 Lowther St Carlisle, trading the shop as “W. Sproat & Son” which was the trading name of my Great grandfather who first started a bakery business in about 1890. The shop in High St. Longtown was added in 1995 along with a succession of wholesale customers in the Carlisle area.
Since about 2003 Gretna Bakery has been delighted to supply the “Cranstons” shop in Fisher St Carlisle. Other wholesale customers have been added over recent years including Pioneer Food Service in Rosehill Carlisle, Carlisle Utd and Eddie Stobbarts in Kingstown. The most recent addition has been Cranstons newest shop at Orton Grange which is proving very successful.
Gretna Bakery now employs some 30 people on both sides of the border, some of whom live on the English side and work in Gretna and vice versa.
