A POPULAR bakery is celebrating after adding another award to its collection.

Grant’s Bakery, on Corbridge’s Market Place, has been named national winner of the Baking Industry Awards’ (BIA) The Craft Bakery Business Award 2020.

The family-owned company, led by master baker Andrew Cotterell, was named the best in the north in 2019 at the prestigious awards.

2020 winners were chosen following months of judging which, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, involved dozens of video calls, product tastings and interviews, and hundreds of guests tuned in to watch the online, live awards ceremony hosted by TV and radio star Alexander Armstrong.

“Thank you to everyone involved in making the Baking Industry Awards 2020 a reality,” said British Baker editor Amy North. Each year the judging gets harder – even more so during a pandemic, with bakeries and manufacturers of all sizes going above and beyond to keep the nation fed. Everyone who entered was worthy of recognition and our judges had a really hard task in choosing the winners. Finally, I’d like to say a massive thank you to our sponsors, expert judges and everyone who entered the awards – it wouldn’t be possible without you!”

Mr Cotterell has been in the baking industry for more than 40 years and opened Grant's over 10 years ago, it has since become a firm favourite with locals and visitors alike, building up a strong reputation for its bread, cakes and savouries.

On the recent accolade, he said: "It’s a huge honour. We set our goal to try and be the best bakery shop in the North-East, when we got that accolade last year, we thought ‘why don’t we go for it again’, and here we’ve gone and won a national one. It’s like the Oscar’s of the baking industry. We’re hugely proud.

"It's come at a bit of a difficult time, it’s been such a long year, but it’s been a good year because we feel as if we’ve helped the community. It’s great for Corbridge as well, it’ll drive footfall to our shop and obviously people will get a spin off from it as well.

"The staff deserve it, they’ve put some shifts in!"