The Great British Bake Off: Ripon retailer provides popular Channel 4 show with limited edition retro fridges

A family-run electrical retailer in Ripon has helped Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith and the Great British Bake Off team with their special retro collection of limited edition fridges.
By Natasha Audsley
Published 2nd Oct 2023, 06:00 GMT
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Award-winning Ripon retailer G Cragg Ltd was head-hunted by independent television company Love Productions to help with The Great British Bake Off set.

Love Productions was in search of a specific, and now very important, retro model of fridge freezer that had recently been discontinued by the Italian company, Zanussi.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

G Cragg Ltd predicted the retro model's popularity would continue to grow and bought the last available stock directly from Zanussi back in January.

Most Popular
Ripon retailer G Cragg help the team at The Great British Bake Off with the last remaining stock of an extra special retro appliance.Ripon retailer G Cragg help the team at The Great British Bake Off with the last remaining stock of an extra special retro appliance.
Ripon retailer G Cragg help the team at The Great British Bake Off with the last remaining stock of an extra special retro appliance.

Stephan Cragg, co-owner at G Cragg, said: “The TV company rang Zanussi asking for some of their fridges freezers as they are the specific design they had their eyes on for the TV set.

“Zanussi said ‘well we don’t anymore but I can tell you who might have, a company called G Cragg in North Yorkshire’.

“Because we bought the last ones directly from the company.

“The TV company said ‘how many have you got? - because we will take the lot’.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“They’ve now been taken to their studios to be painted in pastel colours in London.

“We forgot all about it until it came on TV and felt delighted to see our appliances on the set.

The British Bake Off set has been consistently themed with vintage style and originally used the iconic 1950s-inspired Smeg refrigerators.

The multi-award winning Channel 4 show's popularity has created a resurgence in the rise of retro appliances.

Read More
Grantley Hall revs up the luxury with the launch of Grantley Motorsport
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We think Love Productions decided they wanted something a little bit different as everyones knows Smeg,” Stephan said.

"Smeg is an amazing product but everyones knows it well.

"The Zanussi model still has a classic retro design and a similar look.

"They discontinued the model after two years because they weren’t as popular as their others.

“We got them as we sold a lot of Smeg fridges and we’d also sold a lot of that particular model.

“We like to try to be that little bit different ourselves and display some quirky designs that other much bigger retailers don’t usually want to stock.

"Our customers appear to like it.”

Related topics:RiponSmegPrue LeithChannel 4