Bridgehouse, located on the central riverside site first occupied by Warkworth’s founder John Anderson Brown, has long been one of the town’s recognisable heritage buildings. Operating as a boarding-house, it was purchased from Mr and Mrs F. Kasper in 1929 by the Clegg family, who advertised superior accommodation for permanents and transients with electric light in every room. Modern indeed, for the times, as Warkworth did not join the national grid until 1936.
The new owners proved to be enterprising and versatile and, undeterred by the depression years of the 1930s, made major changes to the buildings and the business. Tearooms built by Mr R.V. Moore were opened on adjoining land and quickly became a popular venue for wedding receptions. A bakery at the rear of the premises supplied the tearooms and the public with white or wholemeal unsliced bread, cakes and delicious sticky buns. Catering for the annual A&P Shows was another venture and here, too, Mr Clegg exhibited the Ayrshire cattle he bred on his Carran Road farm. The business expanded to include the surrounding districts making the purchase of vehicles a priority. In these days of mass production it is interesting to note that Clegg’s bakery van, circa 1935, was built in Warkworth by Mr A.S. Warin, motor-body builder. On a Chevrolet chassis, the body was framed in well-seasoned kauri and panelled in steel. Two full saloon doors with winding droplights were fitted, as well as two doors at the back. There was one bucket-seat and the engine was considered speedy and economical to run. Signwritten with the words Clegg’s Bridgehouse Bakery, the van was ready to deliver delicacies from the bakery to the country areas and it is well remembered by those who were then the children waiting in eager anticipation.
