Mayor helps Market Drayton gingerbread man look tasty - with video

Outgoing mayor Mark Whittle, who is also artist and mural painter, carried out the work on the town's 12ft brick man as a "parting gift" before he finishes his tenure this month.

Councillor Whittle gave the landmark, which lies near the island on the A53 bypass near the town, a lick of paint and a thorough cleaning.

He said: "Call it my leaving gift. I've just done it up. I've repainted it so now it's up and running and ready for the summer. I finish as mayor soon and I saw the mural and thought it wasn't looking its best. I always think you should leave things in a better state than you found them."

The brick man was created about 20 years ago by the town's in bloom committee about 15 years ago. At first it was surrounded by flowers and lovingly tended to during the sunnier months, but in 2015 it looked as though it would be ripped up after councillors agreed that it had become an eyesore. Staff at the town's Gingerbread Man pub came to the rescue, offering to maintain, and convincing councillors to change their mind.

The town's links to gingerbread are thought to date back hundreds of years – the first recorded mention of it being made in the town was 1793. Clive of India was born near the town and is said to have brought back the ginger spice to the town's bakers giving each bakery the chance to develop its own secret recipe.

The first record of gingerbread being made in the area was back in 1793, when Roland Lateward began a bakery at the back of his cottage in Shropshire Street. In 1817 another bakery began in the corner of High Street and Church Street, which then became known as Billington's Gingerbread.

And while Billington's still makes the biscuit, it moved away from the town to Yorkshire and instead sells the product back to shops in the area. Over the years a number of companies have either moved away, closed, or branched into something else leaving just one remaining gingerbread baker – Image on Food.

Last year the former Billington's bakery site in the High Street once again stocked the company's gingerbread more than 200 years after it opened. Field's Kitchen deli opened at Billington's old premises last February, and offers a selection of gingerbread treats produced by Image on Food.

Since 2017 the town has held the Ginger and Spice Festival each September to celebrate the town's links to the delicacy.

Market Drayton has always been proud of its baking heritage, with the town's people historically eating their gingerbread after dunking it into a glass of port or tea, a tradition dating back to the farmer’s wives of the surrounding areas of the town.