McCann’s Bakery

The warehouse adjoining Bagenal’s Castle was added in the early 19th century. In the 1890s the complex became the home of McCann’s bakery and employed generations of local families until it ceased operating in the late 1990s. 

McCann’s Bakery, also known as the Victoria Bakery, was established in Newry in 1837. The McCann family came from county Louth and had a family background in the milling industry.  

Thomas McCann developed the Bakery at Nos. 20 and 21 Castle Street up until his death in 1876. Meanwhile his nephews, Arthur, and James, established a grocers’ business in the Milestone building in Hill Street in the 1870s. In 1892 their business partnership ended, and Arthur took complete control of the Bakery. In 1894, Arthur McCann moved the Bakery to a new site (across the road from the old one) in Castle Street. These premises had been formerly occupied by Joseph Doyle’s seed merchant and flower business. This move was to be an important milestone in the modernisation of the bakery and its continued success.  

In 1924, following the death of his father, Arthur, Matthew Henry McCann who took responsibility for the business. During this time Newry faced a period of economic decline. Combined with the fact that Newry found itself positioned as a border town due to Partition, this meant that their catchment area had been significantly reduced. The 1930s proved equally difficult as the economic fallout from the Wall Street Crash affected trade and the import of raw materials. Added to this, was new competition emerging from Belfast bakeries. Through staff and customer loyalty, and Matthew McCann looking after the welfare of his staff, as well as the credit facility provided by local flour supplier, McCann’s Bakery survived this decade and was able to celebrate it’s Centenary in Newry Town Hall in 1937.  

With the outbreak of World War II in 1939 and the introduction of rationing, production of at the Bakery was affected by shortages and rising prices. Miles, the second son of Matthew McCann, had joined the Bakery in 1940 but joined the Royal Air Force shortly afterwards. Whilst serving he was captured in 1942 and held in a Prisoner of War Camp in Sumatra until 1946. He returned to the family business in 1948 when he succeeded his father as Managing Director. 

Miles McCann was active in promoting McCann bakery products as far afield as North America, and participated in a trade event, British Week, which took place in Toronto, Canada in 1967. 

The demolition of much of Castle Street and North Street meant that the bread vans could not be loaded outside the bakery and a new despatch and loading bay were essential. An extension to the bakery of 7,000 square feet was planned and carried out by local companies; O’Hagan and Sons, Architects and Higgins and Murdock, Builders.  

The new extension was officially opened in February 1969 by M.V. Hogg, President of Newry Chamber of Commerce, and a close friend of the McCann family, followed by a lunch in the Ardmore hotel. With the new bakery extension officially opened in February 1969, McCann’s entered the 1970s on a good footing. 

However, the 1970s was a difficult decade, exacerbated locally by The Troubles, but the bakery was able to respond to many challenges and opportunities of the period.  

With the accession of the UK and Ireland to the EEC (later EU) in 1973, the bakery was also able to build up trade for its products in the Cooley Peninsula, which it had not done so since the 1930s due to tariffs and quotas. Always perceived as a good employer with a loyal workforce, in 1974 a pension scheme was introduced for all staff.  

In 1984, Christopher McCann became the managing director and the fifth generation of the family to take charge of the Victoria Bakery. The business continued to flourish and expand into the European market. Like so many other small bakeries, however, McCann’s came under intense pressure from competition with larger firms.  

McCann’s had over thirty bread vans delivering bread around the countryside, and this was an important service for the rural population, but wholesale trade started to overtake door to door sales in this decade. 

New equipment was also installed in the 1980s, with the old ovens installed in 1894 finally being removed. Popular bread products such as scones, rolls and crusty bread were now baked in the new ovens.  

In the 1990s McCann’s Bakery, like many other small firms, came under intense pressure from competition with larger firms. McCann’s eventually ceased operating in Newry in 1996 after being taken over by Irwin’s Bakery in Portadown.  

Inspection of the Bakery building at the time of its closure led to the rediscovery of Bagenal’s Castle, built by Sir Nicholas Bagenal in the mid-16th century, which had survived being enveloped within the Bakery premises. The former Newry and Mourne District Council purchased the site and restored the Castle with adjoining warehouse as a new home for Newry and Mourne Museum.