The Final Countdown - Festive Edition

Right.
Deep breath everyone.

We’ve officially entered the last full weekend before Christmas, which means three things are guaranteed:

1. Things are about to get REALLY busy.

2. Most of you haven’t started your Christmas shopping yet (we see you, we ARE you).

3. We’re all running on festive adrenaline, caffeine and the promise of a day off on Thursday.

So we thought we’d put together a proper weekend roundup for anyone who wants the full picture of what’s going on at the shop over the next few days.

Spoiler alert: it’s a lot. In the best possible way.

Extended Opening Hours This Week 🎄

Because it’s the final run-up to Christmas (and because we know everyone’s juggling approximately 400 things at once), we’re extending our opening hours to give you a bit more breathing room.

Here’s how the week looks:

Friday, December 19
🕘 9:00am – 7:00pm

Saturday
🕘 9:00am – 6:00pm

Sunday
🕘 9:00am – 5:00pm

Monday
🕘 8:00am – 7:00pm

Tuesday (Christmas Eve)
🕢 7:30am – 2:00pm

What We’re Baking (And Baking… And Baking Some More)

This weekend is a big one for the bakery.

We’ll be making Scottish bread rolls and Scotch bread and yes, they smell exactly as good as you’re imagining.

Our counters will be LOADED with all of the regulars, from Sausage Rolls to Scotch Eggs, Steak & Guinness to Chicken Curry and everything in between!

Christmas Pies will have their busiest weekend of the year, they're basically baked good royalty for the next few days!

Some rare finds that we have in the freezers:

• Chipolatas – but they’re running low

• Cocktail sausage rolls – also limited quantities

• Pigs in blankets – Not in the freezers until Friday at noon, they will also limited (blink and you’ll miss them)

🥧 Pork Pies. So Many Pork Pies.

This will be our biggest pork pie production of the year.

We’re talking over 500 pork pies, made across multiple batches throughout the day. Originally we hoped to have them earlier, but due to a bit of butcher miscommunication (and pork shoulder and pork belly arriving tomorrow), pork pies won’t be ready until Friday afternoon.

Worth the wait. Always are.

Fully Loaded for the Weekend (And Beyond)

Once we’re firing on all cylinders, we’ll be fully stocked with all your favourite baked goods for:

• The weekend

• Monday

• Tuesday

Christmas Eve is a slightly different beast.

A Quick Christmas Eve Heads-Up 🎄

Christmas Eve is usually quieter for us, and this year is no different. We’ll be open 7:30am–2:00pm, mainly for people popping in to collect their Christmas dinners.

We’ll be running a skeleton crew, so while we’ll still have stock, we won’t be producing huge amounts that day.

If you’re after something specific, we really do recommend coming in between now and Tuesday rather than leaving it until Christmas Eve.

Future-you will thank you.

Grocery Shelves = Looking Very Healthy 👀

The shelves are in a good place right now.

We’ve got:

• Paxo stuffing back in stock

• Loads of jams, lemon curd and teas

• A brilliant range of Simpkins

• Piles of biscuits

• Plenty of Christmas stock still available

And yes… if you’re doing panic shopping, this is absolutely your moment.

Statistically speaking, about 80% of you haven’t started your Christmas shopping yet.
You’re not alone.
We’ll see you this weekend.

Sweet Treats & Fresh Cream Favourites 🍰

We’ll have lots and lots of mince pies, plus:

• Bakewell tarts

• Millionaire tarts

• Eccles cakes

• Turnovers

And from early Friday morning, fresh cream favourites including:

• Strawberry tarts

• Banoffee tarts

• Victoria Sponge Cakes

Fresh, indulgent, and extremely good at disappearing quickly.

Drinks, Crisps & Comfort Food Staples

• Heinz sandwich bread

• Salad cream

• Cup-a-Soup

• MaMade

• Walkers crisps (loads of varieties)

• Savoursmiths (which you lot have been loving)

• Kent Crisps

• Irn-Bru

• Apple Tango

• Barr Shandy

• Orange Fanta

• And all the usual favourites you expect this time of year

Almost There… Almost There…

We’ve still got a few very busy days ahead of us, but we are so close now. Close enough that we can almost taste that day off on Thursday.

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re already one of the good ones. But it never hurts to say it out loud:

Please be kind to anyone working in retail this week.
Everyone you see behind a counter has been grafting non-stop to make Christmas happen for other people. A smile, a bit of patience, or a quick “you’re doing a great job” goes a long way.

Right.
On we go.
See you in the shop 🎄💙