Wrights of York - memories of 'best' butcher's in city

But not everyone.

For a dedicated and loyal group of pork-pie and sausage-roll lovers, Scotts had nothing on Wrights.

Wrights was a York institution, with branches across the city but also Yorkshire.

For many years, the company had a factory at Skelton and shops around the city, including in Bridge Street, Acomb, Clifton, Whip-ma-Whop-ma-gate, Blossom Street and Nunnery Lane.

Today, they are no more shops, although a doorway mosaic remains in Blossom Street; the sign above the Bridge Street shop was removed in 2016.

1981: Wendy Wathey, on the sausage roll machine at the Skelton factory

When we posted a photo recently in The Press and online showing a huge queue outside its Bridge Street branch and also an image of its premises in Nunnery Lane, we were inundated with comments from readers - many of whom worked at Wrights, others who were regular customers.

As they reminisced over their favourite Wrights products, you could almost hear them drooling at the food memories from yesteryear.

People recalled everything from Wrights' Yorkshire patties and pork pies to "wonderful tomato sausages" and the egg and bacon pie, reckoned to be the "best hangover cure ever".

Queue in the 1950s for Bridge Street branch of York butchers Wrights

And does anyone remember their mutton and pea pies?

Here's just some of the recollections posted in our Facebook page, Why We Love York - Memories from readers who reckoned Wrights had the right stuff:

Jean O'Connell: "Used to go to the one in Burton Stone Lane and worked in the offices down Bedern in the 1970s. Nothing could ever beat their wonderful tomato sausages."

Andy Draper: "The long pork ham and egg pork pie was best eaten when it came in fresh from bakery, mmmmm."

Gill Lumley-Holmes: "No one could beat their sausage rolls."

--- 

READ MORE:

* 'My favourite pies and sausage rolls went from 11 out of 10 to 1 out of 10'

* 'We used to have shops!' How this York area has changed in 11 photos

----

Linda Harman: "I used the one on Burton Stone Lane in the 70s, I liked the Scotch pies they made. Also the one in Clifton which is now cakes d'licious."

Malcolm Goodwill: "Shop in Goodramgate where bakery was at the back, steak and kidney pies straight from the oven piping hot -a memory that cannot be beaten, they were delicious."

Jean Smith: "Went in Wrights from the age of two - loved their polony,so always got a slice. Anyone remember when they made mutton and pea pies? Absolutely gorgeous."

Ian Sadler: "Wrights' egg and bacon pie on way to work - best hangover cure ever!"

Carol Farrar: "Went to Wrights in Nunnery Lane early 60s with my nana; we lived in Bishophill. Nana always bought me two sausage rolls. Great memories."

Diana Bartram: "Yorkshire patty 4 old pence and bag of chips 3d for my lunch when at school with a spare 2d for sweets as pudding - the equivalent charge of a school dinner! Sat on Knavesmire to revise for exams! Those were the days!"

1980: Sausage rolls in the making at Wrights

These readers worked at Wrights and shared their memories:

Ann Simpson: "Did training in Goodramgate then off to Fourth Avenue, full time, early 70s, worked in Hull Road and Blossom Street when they were short staffed. Happy days!"

Graham Stanhope: "I worked as a Saturday lad at Wrights in Whip-ma-whop-ma-gate between 1980-82. Because I got to work on a bike I was sometimes sent to other Wrights shops if they were low on staff. I was sent to Tang Hall (Fourth Ave), Acomb and Blossom Street, and probably others too. The pork products were extremely good. Even the cooked ham was amazing, not pumped full of water. Mr Bradley was the manager and his second in command was a nice lady called Dot. They taught me a lot during those two years that I took into other jobs, none of which involved selling pork pies and polony!"

On our Press website, a reader posted: "I started work as a van driver for Wrights during the bread strike of 1974. Wrights being a private, non-union company, continued to bake. Loaded with bread straight from the ovens at Skelton for Whip-ma-Whop-ma-gate I was chased down Petergate by a crowd of shoppers screaming 'bread!' The shop staff had to fight them off to allow me to get the bread into the shop."

More memories have been published in the book, Nunnery Lane and Clementhorpe: Exploring old shops and pubs in York, by the Clements Hall Local History Group, specifically about the branch at 45 Nunnery Lane.

The book records: "Back in 1885, the shop was John Lofthouse, the first of a long line of butchers. A little later it was most famously known as Wrights Butchers, one of several butchers locally. William Wright, a farmer’s son, founded a firm of pork butchers in York, W Wright & Sons, in the mid-1880s, with a shop in Goodramgate. He was very successful and eventually rose to become Lord Mayor of York in 1926/7. The firm was famous in York for over 100 years for its meat and pastry businesses and frozen food."

The book details some food memories from Wrights' customers. Lynne Marston remembers their Yorkshire patties - small round savoury pies similar to a pork pie, but flat with crisp pastry and a savoury filling.

Peter Stanhope recalls: “a wonderful emporium of glass counters and chrome rails. I remember their legendary pork pies, polony, savoury ducks, faggots and rissoles, with brawn, haslet and tongue. People used to queue outside, waiting for the next delivery of freshly baked sausage rolls and pork pies, still warm from the bakery ovens. Once inside, the shop was bright and clean, with shining chrome counters and rails to put your shopping basket on while you placed your order. The floors were all tiled in black and white tiles, but there was almost always wood sawdust sprinkled over the floors.”

1982: The Nunnery Lane shop, shortly before it closed

The Nunnery Lane shop closed in the 1980s, and by 1990 it had become Mistral’s Hair salon, until around 2000, then Sheridan’s Hair in 2003, with Janet Bowen, and is now empty.

* The book Nunnery Lane and Clementhorpe: Exploring old shops and pubs in York, by the Clements Hall Local History Group, priced £8, is on sale at Pexton’s, Frankie & Johnny’s Cookshop and the Swan Inn, all Bishopthorpe Road and the Slip Inn in Clementhorpe. For inquiries contact clemhallhistory@gmail.com.