IT is the end of an era for a popular award-winning Worcester patisserie which baked all its own bread.

Foregate Patisserie closed the doors of its original Foregate Street bakery on Monday, while its shop in St John’s has been taken over by a Malvern-based bakery. A third outlet of the Foregate Patisserie in the city’s Broad Street has also closed.

The company has been a feature of the city’s retail landscape since the late 1970s, opening a second branch in St John’s three years after the first shop opened, near Foregate Street’s railway bridge.

The patisserie, crowned Baker of the Year in 1997, prided itself on the quality of its produce and the range of its stock, including breads, rolls, confectionery, fresh creams, savouries and filled sandwiches.

However, mystery surrounds the circumstances of the shop’s closure and despite several attempts by your Worcester News for more details, leaders at the patisserie have so far declined to comment.

The St John’s outlet is trading as St John’s Bakery Shop after it was taken over by Court Road Bakery, based in Malvern.

Owner Ian McCrorie-Mayne, who runs the business with wife Caroline, said the bread was baked at the Malvern base before being delivered to their shops – in Court Road, St John’s, Worcester, and the Home End Bakery Shop in Ledbury.

The company opened the St John’s branch on Monday and a refurbishment is planned in the near future.

Dating back to 1900, the company, which the family has run for the last eight years, uses ovens which are 108 years old to bake traditional, rustic-style bread.

Mr McCrorie-Mayne said: “I was quite friendly with the owners of the Foregate Patisserie.

“They were traditional bakers and there’s not many of us left.”

However, with many family firms closing, he issued a “use-us-or-lose-us” warning to city shoppers.

“We want to support the community but they have to support us as well,” he said.

“It’s a sign of the times. It’s really very sad.”

Jonathon Clarke, a director of Malvern-based Colston Bakeries, said: “We’re keeping this tradition going. It is a very sad day.”

Coun Marc Bayliss said he had been a regular customer at Foregate Street bakery and works just around the corner from the business, at Worcester Research.

He said: “It’s a real shame for the city. If it has folded and gone out of business it’s really sad for Worcester.

“I don’t know if it was the last bakery in the city. The shop always seemed really busy to me.”

He said the business was popular with everyone from office workers to builders to people who worked at Worcester’s courts.

Coun Jabba Riaz contacted your Worcester News to say it was “a great shame” and said the company had supplied sandwiches to Orchard House, the headquarters of Worcester City Council.

He said: “Local, independent businesses are struggling.”