An Altrincham bakery has been named the National Bakery of the Year at a prestigious awards ceremony.
Lovingly Artisan, which operates at Altrincham Market and at Plumgarths, near Kendal, won two top awards at the inaugural Bakery Business Magazine National Bakery awards.
Owners – and husband and wife – Aidan Monks and Catherine Connor attended the London event on Tuesday to pick up the Northwest Regional Bakery of the Year and National Bakery of the Year.
The pair said: “We didn’t expect to win Best Northwest Regional Bakery and certainly didn’t expect to win the overall award as the UK’s Bakery of the Year.
“We can’t get over it, it’s such a huge pat on the back for all of us, we’ve all worked so hard to create the best possible artisan breads for our customers.
“The whole team take great pride in what we do, quite simply we want to show people what real bread is all about, that we as consumers don’t have to accept poor quality bread in our diets.”
The win marks a double for the bakery, who were named North West Regional Producer and National Baker of the Year at the Farm Shop & Deli Show in April.
The winners of each category at the Bakery Business Magazine National Bakery awards were:
- National Bakery of the Year – Lovingly Artisan
- Outstanding Contribution Award – Sara Autton
- Scottish Bakers Young Baker of the Year – Sam Ireland-Taylor
- CBA Young Baker of the Year – Owen Morris
- ABIM Young Baker of the Year – Christina Gibbons
- East Midlands – Hambleton Bakery
- West Midlands – Live Love Loaf
- East of England – Flour & Spoon
- Yorkshire & Humber – Pie Bakery
- London – Paul Rhodes
- South Scotland – Lough’s Home Bakery
- North East – Sweetharts Bakery
- Central Scotland – Fisher & Donaldson
- Northern Scotland – Casella-Polegato
- North West – Lovingly Artisan
- Wales – The Pudding Compartment
- South East – Warings Bakery
- Northern Ireland – Ditty’s
- South West – Patisserie Mark Bennett
