Arnott’s Bakehouse is the oldest surviving bakery operated by the founders of Arnott’s Biscuits. It is the very building that the Arnott family used as a bakery and residence in the 1860s. Downstairs you can still see the original biscuit oven, painstakingly restored by the current owners of the building Allison and Stephen Arnott.

 

In 1848, a 21 year-old William Arnott arrived in Sydney with his younger brother David, aboard the ship Sir Edward Parry from Scotland. Soon after their arrival they moved to Morpeth to be reunited with their parents and four younger siblings. The two boys had remained in Scotland to complete their trade qualifications as bakers and confectioners. By 1862, Morpeth was the thriving hub of the Hunter Valley, the gateway to the north and a town of considerable importance. With a population of over 1000 it was now the 19th largest town in the colony and home to many inns, a steam flour mill, candle factory, soap works, foundry and two banks among many other businesses.

 

Steamship services to Newcastle and Sydney reached 1300 per annum and virtually every settler who came to seek his fortune in the vast Hunter Valley, disembarked at Morpeth. So it was in 1862 that David Arnott took a lease over the property at 148 Swan Street (this building) and with his brother William at the helm, commenced a baking business that would ultimately become Arnott’s biscuits. By 1865, William Arnott Pty Ltd moved first to Newcastle and then in 1906 to Homebush, employing over 1000 people. Arnott’s Biscuits is now owned and operated by the Campbell family in the USA.

 

In 2001, a mere 136 years after William Arnott left the building, his great, great, great grandson Stephen, along with wife Allison, brought it back into the family. In 2003 they established Morpeth Sourdough, drawing on Allison’s expertise in Food Microbiology (MAppSc, NSW) and baking bread in these historic premises for the first time in over a century.

 

In 2007 Arnott’s Bakehouse Restaurant opened its doors following an elegant refit of the upstairs residence. Renowned designer Mark Landini was briefed to design an interior that combined a homely Victorian ambience with a timeless elegance. All the original features of the building remain, including the floorboards, architraves and the pressed metal ceilings above you. The wallpaper is however from France, likewise the silk curtain fabric. The light fittings are from Murano in Italy. The building itself was built in the 1830s by Richard Chapman, a butcher and businessman of Morpeth and at that time consisted only of the ground floor. The upper storey was added later, circa 1890.