A popular bakery is bringing Bolton pensioners some autumn cheer – after many are set to lose their winter fuel allowance.

Hunters the Bakers will be offering pies, pasties, sausage rolls and hotpot to elderly customers at a discounted price of £1.50 from Monday to Thursday. The deal starts on October 1 and will last six months.

Alicia Barlow, owner of Church Road bakery, said: “Pensioners make up a lot of our customer base.

“When we heard about the winter fuel payment, we wanted to think of the best way to help them.

“It’s a significant chunk of their income if they can’t work anymore.”

(Image: Hunters the Bakers)

Alicia said, for many pensioners, Hunters is more than just a place to buy their pasties.

Alicia said: “For some, the conversations they have with our staff when they come in might be the only face-to-face interaction they have all day.

“Some have family that lives far away or doesn’t visit them often.”

Many of these customers have been loyal to the bakery for a long time.

Alicia said: “One elderly man has been coming for over 50 years.”

And they have supported Hunters through financial challenges.

Alicia said: “The economy has been tough on us in recent years and the cost of living really has taken its toll.

“They have stayed with us and, with talk of the winter fuel payments, we wanted to find a way to thank them.

“We decided to discount our hot baked goods like pies, pasties and sausage rolls.

“It cuts around 50 per cent of the profit for us in real terms.

“But we wanted to continue to support the local community.”

And the Hunters’ building has been part of the Church Road area for 119 years.

She said: “The location has changed hands over time, but it’s always been a bakery.”

And Hunters the Bakers has been a hub for people in the almost 60 years it has been in business.

 

It has meant a lot to Alicia, too.

She said: “I’m a local Bolton girl.

“I used to eat lunch at Hunter's with my grandmother as a little girl.”

Two years ago, she had the opportunity to save it.

She said: “The Hunter family was selling the bakery.

“It was my incentive to buy it and keep it going.”

The Government voted to scrap winter fuel payments previously paid out to almost all UK pensioners.

The payment of about £200 to £300 was set up to help with winter energy costs.

Now, only those on Pension Credit or means-tested benefits can still receive it.

According to data from the Department of Work and Pensions, an estimated 780,000 pensioners will lose out across the country and 84 per cent of those in Bolton will be ineligible.