A family bakery is celebrating 55 years of making fresh pies, cakes and bread for the people of Halstead.

Ann and Dennis Hume were in their twenties when they opened Hume’s Bakery in the High Street in 1960 and the business is now at the heart of the community.

The couple, who are now 76 and 78 respectively, are semi-retired and employ their three children, Wendy, Adrian and Judith to run the bakery with them.

The floor bloomer - a flavoursome loaf baked on the floor of the oven without paper - is one of Hume’s’ signature recipes and their jam doughnuts, multiseed loaves and Eccles cakes have never fallen out of fashion.

Ann and Dennis will celebrate the store’s birthday on April 1 by inviting everybody to pop in for a drink and a bun in the afternoon.

Ann said: "We have got some very, very loyal customers who have been coming to us nearly as many years as we have been here, which is lovely."