To mark the end of their 150th anniversary year, Belfast based teamed up with Patton’s Bakery, celebrity chef Jenny Bristow and students from the Belfast Metropolitan College today to attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest scone.  The record attempt took place throughout Wednesday 22nd November at Patton’s Bakery in Newtownards and to make sure the scone was extra tasty, the flour used was Neill’s own award-winning brand.

In order to rise to the occasion, the baking team had to break the current record which was achieved in 2010 by Shaun McCarthy from Eltham, New Zealand with a scone that weighed a whopping 119.45kg and had a diameter of 117cm. Today’s attempt weighed in at a massive 141.8kg so whilst the baking team will have to wait to be officially verified from the Guinness World Records they are confident they have a great chance of smashing the record.

In the coming months all relevant video, photographic and witness evidence will be gathered and sent to the Guinness World Records for review. Neill’s Flour will then be faced with a nail-biting wait to see if they have successfully broken the record for the world’s largest scone. Neill’s Flour Sales & Marketing Manager Karl McCrum is confident about the attempt saying, “Today has been very exciting for everyone and I am confident that if everything goes to plan we will be able to break the current Guinness World Record, although it will be tough with the current scone being so huge!” 

Warren Patton, Proprietor of Patton’s Bakery said “I’ve loved being involved in the Guinness World Record attempt and am very pleased Neill’s Flour chose my bakery to host the world record – luckily our ovens were big enough! I hope our scone will succeed in breaking the record, it would be brilliant after all the hard work put in to the attempt today and during the months of planning.” 

PressEye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 22nd November 2017 Pictured: It's scone to be a record breaker. Picture: PressEye / Philip Magowan

Celebrity chef Jenny Bristow was on hand at Patton’s Bakery to help and advise the Belfast Met students with her baking expertise, she too was delighted with the attempt saying: “I have a great relationship with Neill’s Flour and have had the privilege to work with them closely throughout their 150th year. I’m very proud to be involved in this exciting project and it would be a fantastic achievement if we were able to secure a new record here in NI!”

Thanking everyone involved in the attempt, Karl McCrum said, “A lot of work went in to this record attempt and I really want to thank everyone involved. We couldn’t have done it without Patton’s Bakery and the knowledge from Jenny Bristow and all at Belfast Metropolitan College’s baking school.“We had witnesses from far and wide who gave up their time to oversee the attempt, including the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Baking Bar, Precia Molen, Mercury Security Management, Pinnacle Response, Braefoot Ltd and many more. The attempt would have been impossible without this help and support. It really was a fantastic way to close the celebrations on the 150th anniversary of Neill’s Flour,” Karl added. 

For more information on Neill’s Flour go to www.neillsflour.co.uk or to find out more about Patton’s Bakery go to www.pattonsbakery.co.uk 

Scone

Chris Caldwell

Author: Chris Caldwell

Chris Caldwell at your service! My favourite things are eating and Theatre, I have 2 small sons called Alex and Max who are more mustard than Hellmann's. I spend my days trying to wrangle them and exploring my favourite city - BELFAST! My favourite films are horror, my fav music is metal and my favourite Beatle is Ringo, mainly his work on Thomas the Tank.