Argo's Bakery

Argo's Bakery has stood on Victoria Street in Stromness since the 1940s and is now run by its fourth generation, Grace Argo and her husband Jimmy, alongside Grace's brother George. The bakery bakes bread and biscuits from beremeal, an ancient barley variety milled at Barony Mills in Birsay, the only working bere mill left in Orkney; the grain is kiln-dried over corn husks before milling, a step that flavours it as it dries. In 2009 the bakery bought the Orkney Fudge business, originally called Robertson's Fudge, from Dennis Bichan, and still hand-makes it to his recipe today. Ian Argo, who ran the business through the 1970s oil-boom years, served a term as president of the Scottish Association of Master Bakers, the only Orcadian to hold the post. Its shop remains a working stop for locals rather than a display case for visitors.