The City Bakeries Ltd

[Unknown] The City Bakeries Ltd. [The City Bakeries Ltd]: [Glasgow, UK],[ca.1940]. 8vo (220x145mm) stiff cream pict wraps, stapled, 16pp. VG-/- wraps lightly fished, bright colour & b/w lithography illustration.

[UNKNOWN]

The City Bakeries Ltd

[Glasgow]: [The City Bakeries Ltd], [ca.1940].

Octavo (220x145mm) softcover, stiff cream wraps decorative black, red and gold printed cover, stapled 16pp. Richly illustrated in colour and black and white lithography.

Wraps lightly nibbled one corner and very lightly scuffed. Interior fine.

A promotional stapled pamphlet for the services and specialty cakes of Glasgow's once famous City Bakeries.  Undated, but circa 1940s (In 1960 City Bakeries sold its Employees Sports Ground at Jordanhill (see p5) which had been established in 1931).

City Bakeries was established by the Urie family of bakers from Paisley around 1910-1915.  The family also established and owned the Ca'Doro restaurant in central Glasgow which was part of the same complex as the central bakery from which surrounding suburban City Bakeries stores and tea rooms were supplied.

In the first half of the 20th century Glasgow was a significant center for industrial food production and there were many bakeries that produced biscuits and local products on an industrial scale for the UK.  City Bakeries was one of the most significant and its high end Tea rooms, cakes and baked goods were in demand for weddings, celebrations and occasions throughout Glasgow and the region.  At its height, in the 1930s and 40s, City Bakeries had over 70 branches in Glasgow and the surrounding area and was the second largest retail bakery in the UK.

City Bakeries, like many local bakery businesses, was caught up in the amalgamations that went on in the 1960s-1980s and by the 1990s had closed entirely.   Like many similar businesses, City Bakeries is now just a faded warm memory of older generations.

An uncommon piece of ephemera recording the heyday of a Glaswegian icon.

§  Not in OCLC.