A COUPLE who have provided Barlickers with their daily bread for almost 40 years will hang up their pinnies for the last time today (Friday).

It will be the end of an era when Ron and Ann Sainty hand over their popular bakery and shop on Skipton Road to new owners John and Edwina Ellis, from Earby.

The couple have worked side by side to serve the town they love for the past 37 years, and wouldn't have had it any other way.

Now they are looking forward to taking life a little easier, and seeing what's on TV after 8pm!

Everything sold at Sainty's is made and baked on the premises. That ranges from bread to a variety of cakes, to made-to-order sandwiches and a range of pies and pasties.

It's a time consuming business and a dying art, but for Ron and Ann it has been a labour of love.

Ron had gone into baking straight from school, learning the time-honoured craft with two Barnoldswick firms, Vaughan's and Bateman's, then at Pickles Bakers, in Earby. Even after all these years, he still loves baking and takes a real pride in his work.

They had only been married a year when Douglas Richard Garnett, the proprietor of the baker's shop on Skipton Road, knocked on Ron's door and asked if he would like to buy the business.

"We said we'd love to, but there was no way we could afford it," said Ann.

But it was clearly meant to be. Ron's mum was emigrating to New Zealand and offered to lend them half the money from the sale of her house. The rest came from Mr Garnett, who was keen to see the hardworking young couple take over and agreed to leave half his money in the business until they could afford to buy him out.

"In those days you had to be 21 to sign for anything so it was all done on a handshake as a gentleman's agreement," said Ron. "We're eternally grateful to Douglas Richard Garnett!"

But they certainly weren't buying an easy life for themselves. Ron still starts work at anything between 2am and 4am and Ann isn't far behind, with the shop opening at 7.30am for people calling in on their way to work.

In the 37 years they've run the business, it has only had to close twice, both times when Ron had flu. Another time, as a young man, he hurt his arm playing football with the Round Table. It looked like his business would suffer, but a succession of fellow Round Tablers came in on a rota to work under Ron's close supervision.

The only time Ann has had off was to have their two children, Joanne and Martin. In fact, she is the "senior partner", having started two weeks earlier than Ron to learn the shop side of the business before they took over.

Despite the long hours and hard work, it has always been a happy shop full of fun and laughter.

"We love Barlick and its people," said Ron. "Many of our customers we also count as friends and it's the same with our staff. We've always had really good loyal staff. One of them, Mavis, was here for over 25 years until she retired and she still comes in to cover if someone is off sick."

Ann added that in some cases they had customers from four generations of the same family.

"This has been our life's work and we've enjoyed it," she said.

"We've grown up here and it's all we've known, but we've been happy."

Most of all the couple want to thank all their loyal customers and staff. When they started out, Barnoldswick had 14 thriving small bakeries, but now there are just three.

After today, they are looking forward to spending more time with their family, and Ron might even teach the grandchildren how to bake. Asked if he would bake his own bread at home, Ron said "no", he'd be happy to become a customer of John and Edwina, who take over from Monday.

He and Ann are delighted that they are taking over as John shares his love of baking and they have no plans to change anything at the little bakery.