Pocklington's looks back over 100 years in business

Pocklington's Bakery was born ​in 1924, the year that comedian Benny Hill and Mercedes-Benz were born, and American astronomer Edwin Hubble announces that Andromeda, previously believed to be a nebula, is actually another galaxy, and that the Milky Way is only one of many such galaxies in the universe.

The business was established in 1924 by Cyril Pocklington, growing from half a dozen staff – mostly within the family – to now employing around 60 people both at its Withern site and Louth shop, located on Market Place.

Cyril was the seventh of 17 children of Louth miller, James Pocklington.

He had sons Peter and John with his first wife Madge, who tragically died of Tuberculosis. His second wife Topsy sadly died in childbirth.

He then had three sons, David, Bernard, and Gordon, with his third wife Myra.

When Cyril retired, David and Gordon took over, with Cyril’s grandson Chris taking the reigns in the early 80s, in what was only supposed to be a temporary arrangement after he was deferred when applying to join the Royal Navy.

Chris married Tina in 1992, and they have managed the business together ever since.

Their daughter Hollie is the latest generation to be involved in the business, and her sons Oliver and Casper, aged six and four, are now bakers in their own right, with Oliver already stating that he wants to be a baker when he grows up.

Hollie said: “So many changes have occurred in the last 100 years, within our business and also the world.

"Shopping habits have changed greatly; we started out selling on local markets – there was no such thing as wholesale! There was no refrigeration, and everything was unwrapped.

"Over recent years, markets have closed or become unprofitable, and now only our Louth shop remains.”

Pocklington’s owned three shops in Louth: on Pawnshop Passage, the New Market Hall, and their current location in the Market Place, and have traded on markets in Scunthorpe, Ashby, Gainsborough, Grimsby Freeman Street, and Grimsby Top Town over the years.

Pocklington’s are most famous for their Lincolnshire Plumbread, based on Myra’s original recipe, and they have won many awards for their plumbread, sausage rolls, haslet, and pork pies, and meat pies.

More recently, Pocklington’s also acquired the recipes for Slater Eyre and Moden’s Lincolnshire Plumbread, and now produce four different varieties of plumbread.

The business’s five delivery vans are out six days a week delivering to around 300 wholesale customers.

Although they have such a rich part of Louth’s history, Pocklington’s have also got the future in mind as they were the first UK bakery to go solar powered, and the majority of their baking is powered by renewable energy.

Pocklington’s made the national news when they painted the Louth shop the wrong shade of green back in 2013, and the most well-known Pocklington in their vast extended family is the infamous Canadian entrepreneur Peter Pocklington, who famously earned the enmity of many Canadians when he sold hockey's greatest player, Wayne Gretzky, to the Los Angeles Kings.

To find out more, visit www.lincolnshireplumbreadcompany.co.uk