Edinburgh bakery celebrates 100 years in business but owner doesn't expect it to last another century
Low-key celebration planned to mark milestone
An Edinburgh bakery which sold its famous pies at Easter Road stadium is celebrating an impressive 100 years in business this week.
Masons Bakery, in Starbank Road, on the corner with Craighall Road, first opened its doors on June 16, 1926, when it was run by James and Sylvia Mason.
The Mason family ran the bakery until the late 1970s, when the Duncan family took over, with current owner James Love having taken it on in 1995.
James and his wife Joan are the only staff members left at Masons, having originally employed five bakers, and the couple now only have one van to transport their savoury treats, compared to three when they took over 31 years ago.
Reflecting on the Edinburgh bakery’s centenary, James revealed that a low key celebration will take place on Saturday to mark the occasion.
He said: “The time just goes so fast. The days just fly by, before you know it another day at work is finished.
“It’s incredible Masons has been here for so long, just us being here 31 years is an achievement on its own. It’s a real heart of the community, it definitely brings the community together.
“When we took this place on business was booming, until the financial crash in 2008, which we survived, and then foot and mouth hit us, and then of course Covid, but we’re still going.
“It was the 100th birthday on Tuesday and we just opened up as normal and had an average day.
“We are not doing anything big to mark the centenary, just a little thing on Saturday with a birthday cake, nothing too special, but it is a big milestone and something we are proud to have been a part of for so long.”
But the celebration is bittersweet for James and Joan, who said the business was unlikely to reach another milestone birthday like this.
Having seen many ups and downs at the Newhaven bakery, which won Scottish Pie Club World Championships awards in 2003, 2005 and 2006, James is sadly resigned to the bakery industry’s decline.
He said: “People definitely don’t buy as much as they did, people are watching the pennies more. And people don’t get up as early these days, we were open 7am-3pm but its now 8am-2pm, that’s been the way since the pandemic.
“You can count on one hand the bakery shops in Edinburgh now. It’s sad. It’s not a dying trade, as people still love our food, how it is made from scratch on the day nice and fresh. There is still a demand for it. It’s all made by hand, not manufactured as such, it’s real.
“But I think it’s on the way down. Nobody wants to do this as a job, it’s hard work and long hours, although it’s not really hard work if you do it right.
“Kids just don’t think about wanting to run a bakery, they don’t want to get into this business. So sadly we will not be here in another 100 years.
“Every area in Edinburgh used to have two or three bakeries but it’s not like that now. It just goes to show how incredible it is that this bakery has survived for 100 years. It’s crazy really.”