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Husband-and-wife team Claire and Barry Taylor are the sixth generation of their family to run the business, but have now decided it is time to move on from the Bridge Street premises. The took over the running of the shop in 1997. The couple met while studying painting at art school in Cheltenham before returning to Barry's hometown of Strathaven in South Lanarkshire to continue the family business. "The clues were there," Claire told BBC Scotland. "At one point Barry had one of the bakery vans at college with Alexander Taylor printed on the side. It was a bit of a novelty really, but at that point I didn't anticipate the bakery would be part of the deal for us. It was just circumstances in the end, we were in the right place at the right time." The couple worked alongside Barry’s father before taking over the business in their own right. The family have a 200-year legacy of pies, cakes and freshly baked bread in the town. Barry’s family were originally farmers, then two brothers moved away to start the bakery business, with parish records showing the purchase of building materials. The bakery was one of seven in Strathaven town centre, and is now the only one that has survived for two centuries. "In the Victorian era, my great-grandfather began to develop it more because there used to be a courtyard at the back," Barry said. "Then in the 1920s, Strathaven became a town people would come to for day trips as the coaches which ran from Ayrshire to Edinburgh would stop there, so my family did a lot of catering towards that. There weren't catering companies so people relied on the bakeries." Barry and Claire hope to pass Alexander Taylor Bakery on to new owners and pursue careers as artists. "We've always known that we can't do what we do forever and we feel like we have put a long shift in," Claire said. "I've had people say 'I hope you never sell' and come up to me in absolute horror. But the main thing is we don't want to run out of enthusiasm." Their son is at university and their daughter is a cyclist, and while they have worked in the bakery alongside their parents while growing up, the decision has been made for the business not to be passed to the seventh generation. Claire said: "In lockdown, our son and daughter worked with us and it was just the four of us - literally a family-run business. It's probably my favourite memory from the last 35 years working here. It was strangely really enjoyable and I feel proud of that time.” "They have a great enthusiasm and respect for what we do but it's something I don't think they should feel burdened with," she said. "In any other walk of life you wouldn't necessarily expect that you would do the same job as your parents have done. It is a unique thing for businesses that are family-run and what the Taylor family has done, it's quite an unusual thing for it to be in same family for so long." Read more about Scotland’s oldest bakery here.
