A dust-up at the bakery

These photos from the Lytham St Annes Express archives show scuffles breaking out between strikers and police outside Cookson’s Bakery in Lytham, in November 1978.

Bakery workers – including 200 men at Cookson’s – began a strike at the start of November in support of a 26 per cent pay claim. Management had offered 11 per cent.

Lytham bakery workers claimed their basic pay was only £41 for a 40-hour week.

There was 100 per cent support for the strike at Cookson’s bakery, where picked lines were formed.

Long queues formed outside supermarkets and baker’s shops in Lytham, as people panic-bought bread.

Many stores introduced a rationing system – in some cases two loaves and a packet of bread rolls per customer – as the queues grew longer.

Some stores had completely sold out of bread and rolls by mid-morning on the first day of the strike.

Trouble was caused outside Cookson’s bakery when a flour van arrived at the plant.

The van driver later agreed to leave the bakery and take his load back to Scotland. Two more tankers – each loaded with 20 tons of flour – were, according to the strikers, also turned back by the pickets.

A management team, believed to be about seven strong, had taken over the ovens, and were still producing a small amount of bread.