* Llangollen Oggie Shop owner Ross Anderson with local suppliers oggie baker Pauline Jones, left, and Lorraine Hughes, of Megan’s Kitchen.
It’s
oggie, oggie, oggie for a former financial services specialist who has swapped
the world of insurance for sausage rolls and pastries – by running a pie shop
and delicatessen.
And
the big seller for Ross Anderson and his wife Tracey, who are celebrating five
years at the Llangollen Oggie Shop and Deli on the town’s High Street, is the
traditional Welsh delicacy that’s believed to outdate the Cornish pasty.
They
can sell hundreds in a day at the height of the summer season when tourists
flock to the town.
Since
opening Ross, from Llangollen, has seen the business almost double its turnover
and he bases its success on a commitment to local produce and the oggie, made
by local baker Pauline Jones, is just one example.
Legend
has it the oggie was first served to the 12th century builders of St David’s
Cathedral in Pembrokeshire – 600 years before the pasty appeared – but Ross
gets his fresh every day from Pauline.
He
said: “I was a financial services broker for 20 years but it was very stressful
and I fancied a change and when this opportunity came up I took it and it’s
been very positive.
“Ironically
my very first job was in the food sector - as a fish fryer at Harry Ramsden’s
in Manchester and I stayed there for two years and Tracey’s parents had kept a
couple of pubs in Llangollen, The Grapes and the Prince of Wales.
“It’s
been a good move to open the Oggie Shop but it has been a learning curve as
well.
“Our
shop was originally an open market site underneath the town hall assembly rooms
when they were built in 1867, becoming a shop in 1885 and since then it’s been
a grocer’s so we’re continuing a tradition and from the start we’ve decided to
stock as much local produce as possible.
“As
well as Pauline’s oggies we have other pies and pastries while the Welsh cakes
and bara brith are made across the road at Megan’s Kitchen as well as other
pastries and pies and we stock other Denbighshire products such as Chilly Cow
ice cream from the Vale of Clwyd.”
The
Llangollen Oggie Shop’s commitment to locally-sourced products has worked well
for them and is
the kind of unique shopping offer that has seen them featured in Denbighshire
County Council’s #lovelivelocal campaign which promotes the lively and high quality food and drink offer on the county’s high
streets.
This is being featured on a series of videos on
social media in the run-up to Easter as the campaign
highlights what the county has to offer shoppers and encourages people to
support local independent businesses by using the hashtag on Twitter and
Facebook to share good experiences they’ve had as well as promote products and
services locally they have ‘loved’.
Ross
now employs Tracey and one other full-time staffer along with four part-timers
and he said: “In the quiet months we can run the shop with just a couple of us
but we scale up in the summer and basically we will stay open as long as there
are people about.
“I
had never really thought about being in the food business but I came across the
fact that the shop, known as Bailey’s Delicatessen, was for sale in a
commercial agency and I knew it and felt it had a lot of potential and the
location was really good.
“Food
is a happy business and I wanted to get the shop attached to the town and the
community and establish it as a Llangollen entity. I’m a big believer in
presenting yourself well and we aim to establish a rapport with the customer so
that they return.
“The
five years have just passed so quickly and we have doubled turnover. On a good
day in the summer we can take 30 times more than we might on a rotten January
day but in the recent spell of warm February weather we took a record amount
for an off-season weekend due to such a high level of visitors to the town.
“It
can mean some long days but I do feel I’m still in the honeymoon stage - even
after five years it hasn’t worn off yet.
“We
do get lots of local customers and we do try and look after them and we gets
lots of outdoor sports enthusiasts because Llangollen is something of a mecca
for them.
“And
we’re always on the look out for new products sourced locally and luckily there
seen to be more and more becoming available and we believe it’s great for
visitors to experience a taste of the area they are visiting and maybe take
some home with them as well.
“Llangollen
is a great and thriving place for a food and drink business. We hold a
celebrated Food festival every October at the international pavilion site,
which is currently listed in The Telegraph’s top 10 UK food events.
“I
can be found there running around organising the music stages over that
weekend.
“The
town itself boasts real quality restaurant offerings showcasing local produce,
like The Corn Mill and The Three Eagles. And alongside ourselves we have great
specialist food shops promoting local produce like Porters Delicatessen,
Zingiber and The Phoenix.”
* Denbighshire
County Council’s #LoveLiveLocal 2019 campaign to promote the county’s rich and
varied food and drink offer uses the hashtag #LoveLiveLocal across all social
networking platforms to encourage shoppers to visit its towns.
* For more on #lovelivelocal go to as well as on
Facebook and Twitter.
