A battle for bakery family through world wars - and 'bread war'

​Matthew, Thomas and Joseph McCann, three brothers from County Louth, came to the thriving town of Newry in 1837 and opened a bakery and a corn mill.

When the corn mill ceased operating in the 1850s, the bakery continued, with Thomas at the helm.

He became a Newry Town Commissioner for a time but gave up his public duties in the mid-1850s to devote his attention to his business.

After his death in 1876, the business was carried on by his brothers and nephews.

Matthew’s sons, Arthur and James, expanded the McCann business in the town, constructing the Milestone building in Hill Street where they opened a grocery business in 1879.

Their partnership was dissolved in 1892, when Arthur took control of the bakery.

Like his uncle, Arthur became a Town Commissioner in 1884 and a Justice of the Peace in 1886.

He also served for seven years as chairman of the Newry Port and Harbour Trust. In 1894 the business moved to a more spacious site in Castle Street and was equipped with modern machinery and ovens.

Arthur’s son, Matthew, took over the bakery on his father’s retirement in 1924, steering it through difficult times, such as the creation of the border, which prevented trade with County Louth, and economic depression in the 1930s.

The development of motorised transport and the encroachment of competing bread vans from the larger bakeries in Belfast led to a ‘bread war’, drastically cutting the cost of bread.

Matthew’s son, Miles, first came into the family business in 1940 before leaving to join the RAF in the Second World War.

He served in the Far East and was captured in March 1942 and held in a Prisoner of War camp in Sumatra before being released in 1946.

He returned to the family business in 1948 when he succeeded his father as managing director. During his career, he oversaw the expansion and redevelopment of the site in the 1960s, steered the company through the early years of the Troubles and introduced a pension scheme for the employees in 1974.

Miles McCann also served as chairman of LEDU Southern Area for nine years.

Miles’ son, Christopher, entered the business in 1972, aged 19.

In 1979 he moved to South Africa, returning to the business as managing director in 1984.

He developed the British and European markets and, at home, the market expanded into east Down, Belfast, Louth and Monaghan.

However, despite further investment in the bakery, with the growth of supermarkets and competition from imported products, McCann’s Bakery was taken over by Irwin’s of Portadown in 1990.

Next week’s article will focus on the workforce at McCann’s Bakery.