The Corby Coronation Bun Trail

Whilst this 'Every Pub in Corby' blog has generated very little interest outside of a handful of slightly concerned friends (thanks guys, I'm ok, really!), I do get the odd query from time to time. "Why, exactly, are you doing this?” is one, "Pubs! In Corby! What? Eh?" is another. There’s no easy answer to these questions...

"Where can we find these Corby Rolls you speak of?" is a query that comes up literally time and time again (that's right, twice). This one’s much easier to answer. Come to Corby Town, have a wander and a top day out, they’re literally everywhere.

That so many self-styled gourmands have never even heard of the famous Corby Roll merely reflects the more general lack of interest we have in the UK for our foodie traditions. Nearby towns show us how it can be done though. In Melton Mowbray the humble Pork Pie is so revered as to have been awarded its very own pagan festival, celebrated in August at the historic cattle market with a full-on weekend of gluttony and epicurean debauchery that the Vikings would have been proud of. This is something we should perhaps aspire to in Corby, although experiences in nearby Market Harborough nr Corby show that things can go too far!

Market Harborough was once justly famous for its Cheesecakes (I know! Cheesecakes!). Local specialities that became so sought after, and regarded as so dangerously delicious, EU bureaucrats eventually banned them as part of a wide-ranging Cheesecake safety crackdown. The Health & Safety Gone Mad Executive have now dictated that these local delicacies go by the much safer name of Curd Cakes (sic). Victims of their own wild and uncontrolled success then, although my understanding is that genuine Cheesecakes can still be found on the black market if you know where to look. And at Emerson & West in Market Harborough if you don't.

A Corby Roll with Lorne, Egg & Broon, recently.

So, no such celebrity status for the humble Corby Roll, this despite its unique status as literally the only roll similarly named. Just find me another! Perhaps it needs a good old-fangled British 'banning', that would certainly raise its status. In the meantime, it once again falls to me to cobble together a promotion, working as always without assistance, and entirely free of anything so grubby as sponsorship or corporate backhanders*. Coronation year seems as good a time as any to give our own culinary marvel a welcome push, and it'll be May before you know it, so think-on!

The Corby Coronation Bakery & Bun Trail 2023

That all of Corby's High Street Bakery shops are located in a perfectly straight-ish line across the town is of course no coincidence. For millennia, Wheat, Barley, and certain 'specialist' Mushroom crops have been the focus of mysterious Earth Energies, as evidenced by the appearance of impressive Crop Circles and Led Zeppelin album covers throughout the Summer months, but more particularly during student term time. It should therefore come as no surprise that the location of bakeries and their retail outlets are often governed by these ancient and powerful natural forces. The late Alfred Watkins was perhaps the first to spot these mysterious patterns in the landscape, his research giving rise to the widely accepted scientific term, Ley Lines. That Watkins missed the (soon to be famous) Corby Ley in his ground-breaking 1970’s book The Old Straight Track is, at first glance, inexplicable, although my understanding is that he probably did Corby on Sunday when the shops were closed.

The Corby Bakery Ley Line

Our trail follows this Corby Ley, though a word of warning! On no account attempt to follow it in a straight line! Nothing to do with uncontrollable electromagnetic forces, it's just that you'll end up walking through peoples living rooms and gardens, and almost certainly attract the attention of the local constabulary as a result. Stick to well-worn roads, highways and byways, and you'll be rewarded with a family friendly trail that has something for everyone. Cakes and Buns for the kids, a Woodland Walk for the dog, Pubs and a Beer or three for Mum, Dad, with a traditional sip from the glass for baby of course.

I wisely skipped breakfast and headed straight for Pychley Court (above) on the Western side of Corby, home to our first High Street Bakery Shop (1) stop. I nabbed the last Bacon & Broon Roll, and I was pleased to see the Bacon removed prior to microwaving, thereby preserving the crisp integrity of the Corby Roll. It’s a tidy little shop with cakes galore and a small seating area that could make it something of a family day out, if desperate. I had no time for sitting around, the pubs were nearly open!

A typical High Street Bakery layout, yesterday.

Across the court is the mighty Kingfisher pub, sadly in a state of flux right now. The function room was decked out for Halloween when I visited and apparently open, but the bar is undergoing something of a makeover right now, though it should be open for the forthcoming Coronation Trail launch day next year, so do give it a try.

Turn left down the delightfully named Fotheringhay Road, then dogleg right and left into Norton Road, the scenic route to Studfall Avenue through the lovely Hazel & Thoroughsale Woods. You’ll wish you’d brought a dog at this point, though kids will do. This is proper ancient woodland as befitting the task of the day, and I was delighted to see that Corby Council have already put the trail signs up ahead of the Coronation next year. Just follow the Bun Trail Monkeys and you’ll arrive safe and sound on Clydesdale Road. Turn right then left on Studfall Road for our next stop.

Bun Trail Monkey

The Rock'

Sadly for us grown-up Bun Trailers, the Rockingham Arms (above) remains resolutely closed pending a bit of common sense at Sam Smiths Towers in Yorkshire, but the Studfall Road branch of the High Street Bakery (2) is open and trading heartily, albeit with a limited range of buns on a Saturday lunchtime. I went for the classic Millionaires Shortbread option, very sweet, very tasty, very much  a little too soon after my Bacon Roll it must be said!

All the notable attractions of Occupation Road can be seen here

Onwards down Studfall Avenue and I’d highly recommend holding fast before turning right down leafy Tanfields Grove, all the better to observe its epic Water Tower before emerging almost opposite the impressive modernist edifice of the Catholic Church of Our Lady of Walsingham. Turn left for the Occupation Road branch of the High Street Bakery (3). This was the best stocked so far, in fact I could, and probably should have had a Trifle at this point. An hour had passed since my Bacon Roll which made it officially lunchtime, and as luck would have it, dainty Scotch Pies were available, freshly warmed and ready to go in the artisan microwave. This was my 'Bakery Pick Of The Day', a true village bakery in the heart of the town, well done the ladies of Occupation Road!

Now for the big one, the veritable ‘origin’, the High Street Bakery Shop (4) (above). I recommend you call for a taxi/designated driver at this point. Not that it’s a great distance, although it is the longest stretch of the trail for sure. No, it’s easy enough to get to the village, up Occupation Road and turn right down Rockingham Road, but from there you'll have to negotiate what’s widely acknowledged as 'The Busiest Road in the World, Ever!’. A retail park entrance of truly hellish reputation. That’s no place to walk a family, even though it gives outstanding views of the famous Corby Candle monument and its adjacent Water Tower feature (best not tell the kids, they'll mither you all day!). Needless to say, I did it so that you don’t have to, and by the time I’d got there the shop had closed, needless to say…

Parental duties discharged, it’s time to stock up on Crisps & Pop (ask your parents), lock the kids in the car (you can never be too careful!), and go for a well-earned pint in the village. The Cardigan Arms (left) has had a lick of paint and some new tables installed recently but it's still the best place for a Doom Bar, and that new-fangled craft beer (above) is now well and truly established at the White Hart for us fussy drinkers.

(*status subject to change)