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Bill McLaren obituary: Legendary fourth-generation baker famed for Forfar bridie

Bridie baker Bill McLaren, who has died aged 82, with a restored 1929 delivery tricycle.
Bridie baker Bill McLaren, who has died aged 82, with a restored 1929 delivery tricycle.

Bill McLaren, a man synonymous with Forfar bridies, has died 82.

He was the fourth generation of the McLaren family to run the bakery, which began in Market Street, Forfar, in 1893, before expanding.

In his working life, which began as a teenage apprentice and continued until 2018, Bill hand-made at least several hundred thousand bridies.

Not even his daughter Karen Murray, the fifth generation of bridie makers, and granddaughter, Sarah, know just how many he baked.

Three generations of the McLaren family, the late Bill McLaren, his grand-daughter Sarah and her mother, Bill's daughter, Karen Murray.
Three generations of the McLaren family, the late Bill McLaren, his grand-daughter Sarah and her mother, Bill’s daughter, Karen Murray.

Bill oversaw the expansion of the business to The Cross in Forfar in 1971 and then to Kirriemuir in 1991.

The shops also take phone orders from across the UK and send vacuum-packed bridies through the post.

Bill, who held a pilot’s licence, even flew some of his famous bridies to Jersey to fulfil a request.

Bill McLaren, centre, welcomes New Jersey bakers, Albert Cuccinello, left, and Sam Worrell, to Forfar to learn about bridie making.
Bill McLaren, centre, welcomes New Jersey bakers, Albert Cuccinello, left, and Sam Worrell, to Forfar to learn about bridie making.

He was born in Forfar in September, 1940, the middle child of William and Margaret McLaren.

Bill went to North School and then Forfar Academy where he excelled at technical subjects, woodwork in particular.

From an early age, he had been a member of Forfar Air Training Corps and went on to have a 60-year association with the unit, for which he was honoured.

Family business

He had ambitions to join the air force but opted instead to join his father in the family business aged 15 or 16.

Bill learned on the job and at Dundee Technical College and was soon an expert in chaffing the bridie dough and nickin’ the edges to give them their distinctive appearance.

Bill met his future wife, Allison, at a dance in Kirriemuir Town Hall. They married at St Ninian’s Church, Kirriemuir, in 1960 and went on to have one daughter, Karen, the following year.

Aviation

In the early 1980s, Bill fulfilled his ambition to fly and qualified as a pilot after instruction at Tayside Aviation in Dundee.

He bought a Cessna and regularly flew to the Western Isles and other parts of the UK.

Bill often took Forfar photographer Ally Roebuck with him so he could take aerial photographs in the days before drones and satellite imagery.

Public service

A Rotarian in Forfar, Bill was a member of the Bakers, one of the Nine Incorporated Trades of Dundee, where he served a period as deacon.

He also served as deacon convener of the Nine Incorporated Trades of Dundee for two years.

Bill had a term as president of Scottish Bakers during which time he toured Scotland meeting fellow bakers and learning about industry developments.

Outside work, Bill, together with a group of three or four friends, was a regular golfer at Strathmore, Alyth.

You can read an interview Bill gave to our food and drink team in October, 2021 here.

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