Where have all the bakers (and traditional grocery staples of your youth) gone? (Long time passing). 🍰🍞🥧

[Skim]

We used to have an Ivor Dewdney in Exeter but it closed along with most of the other non-Plymouth outlets. Wasn’t there some feud with his brother, Ron? I remember in the 80s going to the Cornwall Street Ivor Dewdneys with the queue going out the door at lunchtime. No veggie or vegan, no curry or cheese and onion, just small, medium or large, plus a handful of sausage rolls for the heretics who didn't like pasties.

Yes, I think there was a feud, can’t remember the details!

I paid a visit to Dewdneys on Cornwall St a few months ago on a trip to Plymouth and it’s barely changed since the 80s, except that they have a meat-free option now. Always preferred Friary Mill or Warrens, personally, eaten straight from the bag

 

[killer b]

The new bakery in town - Paul's Pies on Fishergate Hill - operates out of a tiny shop with all his workings on display through the shop window (he serves the pies through a hatch to the left) - I took this picture a bit ago - in the centre of the image you can see the pie press, which looks to have come from a much older establishment which has since closed down (possibly my own granddad's - a few years ago I noticed some wooden pie trays in a pie shop branded with his shop's name - it closed down in the early 90s...)

 

[Chz]

I was thinking about them so looked at their website and noticed the "Artisan" label. I wouldn't have said they were either.

Although there's two of their shops here I rarely use them. I think the stuff they sell is OK but just get bread at the supermarket as it's easier.

Yeah, it's nothing special. If I'm in the supermarket, I won't hold out to go to their bakery. But by the same token, if I just need bread I'm not going to Lidl I'm going to the baker's.
Village Baker's in Carshalton is much better, if I'm honest. They're a tiny chain of 4, and probably sit on the fence between traditional and "artisan" (whatever that actually means - sourdough is traditional!).

 

[spanglechick]

There was a traditional ‘white sliced and iced finger’ bakery on my high street until the pandemic, which has been replaced by a ‘sourdough and vegan cake’ Blackbird Bakery.

I noticed that last week! They also owned the party supplies shop next door - which has become a florist. There’s some signage up next to the residential door which suggests that the elaborate part cakes side of the business is still going, online only. I always found the bakery quite grim. Poor selection and humourless staff.

I reckon if you pootled around the area between there and Bromley you’d still find some old-style bakeries. Beckenham or somewhere.

 

[weepiper]

No, I’m not familiar with that chain. Looks like rural areas or the East coast is where to go. Sad that Glasgow has lost this.

Shawlands/Strathbungo/Pollokshields. There's several independent bakers along Kilmarnock Road, some artisanal sourdough vegan ones I grant you but definitely a couple of the traditional kind you mean too.

 

[Rebelda]

Oh I suppose we have got Jewish beigel bakeries

 

[danny la rouge]

Shawlands/Strathbungo/Pollokshields. There's several independent bakers along Kilmarnock Road, some artisanal sourdough vegan ones I grant you but definitely a couple of the traditional kind you mean too.

I don't understand. You mean I have to go...to the Southside?

 

[Skim]

I noticed that last week! They also owned the party supplies shop next door - which has become a florist. There’s some signage up next to the residential door which suggests that the elaborate part cakes side of the business is still going, online only. I always found the bakery quite grim. Poor selection and humourless staff.

I reckon if you pootled around the area between there and Bromley you’d still find some old-style bakeries. Beckenham or somewhere.

Yeah, it wasn’t the best bakery, but was a good place to go if you fancied a slice of bread and butter pudding. I miss those kinds of bakeries, especially things like fresh crusty rolls and huge Chelsea buns.

I like Blackbird, but a loaf from there is a payday treat more than a weekly staple. I wish decent bread was affordable for more people rather than being an ‘artisan’ product sold at inflated prices.

 

[bluescreen]

Where I live in east angular there are two independent bakeries, one of which has 15 local outlets, and one of which is unique to our rather large village. They're reliably OK rather than spectacular and I suppose we just take them for granted. How long either can keep going with these insane energy prices is another matter.

I just checked and the firm I thought operated only in the village turns out to have half a dozen outlets supplied by the bakery down the road from here. So in fact we have two small independent chains operating locally, where you can get all the usual health-threatening sugar infested products and several types of bread, none of it as fancy or expensive as Gail's.

 

[Skim]

Oh I suppose we have got Jewish beigel bakeries

This is the only thing wrong with south London: not enough beigels!

 

[danny la rouge]

Oh I suppose we have got Jewish beigel bakeries

This is cool. We have the Pink Peacock ( Pink Peacock - Wikipedia ) again in that mystical far off land beyond the Kingston Bridge off ramp, but it's about as far from the traditional bakery my Dad would know as you can get!

 

[Rebelda]

This is cool. We have the Pink Peacock ( Pink Peacock - Wikipedia ) again in that mystical far off land beyond the Kingston Bridge off ramp, but it's about as far from the traditional bakery my Dad would know as you can get!

They also do bread, rolls, and all your usual cakes and pastries. Proper.

 

[danny la rouge]

They also do bread, rolls, and all your usual cakes and pastries. Proper.

It’s good stuff, too.

 

[Epona]

We had Percy Ingles in East London until recently. Did decent bread, smashing pastries and great doughnuts. It was cheap and cheerful but was more suited to the community than the sourdough bakeries that are all that exist now. scifisam and Rebelda

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Aye, I miss Percy Ingles, they went out of business during the first lockdown.

Reminds me once of an office I used to work in, a few of us were having a bit of a discussion about Engels (as you do) and our other colleague, a burly east end lad, piped up, looking quite confused - "Are you talking about Percy Ingles?" In fairness, it was just before lunchtime and our minds were turning towards food.

Their sausage rolls weren't a patch on Greggs' mind you, but their pastries were lovely.

 

[killer b]

The pie shops of preston also serve mince pies all year round fwiw

 

[hash tag]

Yeah, it wasn’t the best bakery, but was a good place to go if you fancied a slice of bread and butter pudding. I miss those kinds of bakeries, especially things like fresh crusty rolls and huge Chelsea buns.

I like Blackbird, but a loaf from there is a payday treat more than a weekly staple. I wish decent bread was affordable for more people rather than being an ‘artisan’ product sold at inflated prices.

Blackbirds do the very best black forest gateau

 

[SpookyFrank]

all these still exist in our suburban bakeries. I had a vanilla slice the other week.

Is that what they're called. I always go for the caramel shortbread, or one of those caramel doughnuts with custard in them.

 

[planetgeli]

There is still a non artisan local baker on Bedford high street which does Bedfordshire Clangers along with decent white and brown loaves.View attachment 340413

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Gunns were our local bakers in that town I'm from. Don't remember them being in Bedford before. The Bedfordshire Clanger was definitely not a thing when I was growing up. Despite the internet saying it dates back to the 19th century I have a suspicion it dates back to a Guardian article in about 2012.

The best baker ever is Herberts in Montpelier in Bristol. Used to see queues going down the street for their bread.

I lament the loss of easily available fresh bread made in proper bakeries.

 

[killer b]

While Eccles cakes are widely available (and the packaged version you can get from most shops is actually an excellent product), I did some research when mrs B had an extended stay in a nearby hospital a few years ago and I'm not aware of any small producer of them in Eccles itself, which seems a shame. Likewise the Goosnargh Cake is not available in Goosnargh. Chorley cakes are still made in Chorley though.

 

[The39thStep]

There was a belting family owned bakery called Mathers near where I lived in the UK. Did loads of different fresh bread, their own pies-pork, meat and potato, cheese and onion, steak and kidney, etc fantastic cakes and pies . Also did a cracking breakfast and a good lunchtime menu including hotpot and red cabbage. That went after the remaining family members decided to sell up.

 

[Maggot]

My nearest high st has a the wonderful Sponge Kitchens. It does the best bread, but is quite pricey. Been around since the 1930s and have had 3 branches for as long as I can remember.

Coughlans is a south London, NE Surrey chain yeah. Based in Thornton Heath IIRC. They call themselves "Artisan", but they aren't really and have been around since the 30s.

They all seem to be in or near Croydon. The bread isn't as good as Sponge Kitchens, but they have a great range or savouries, many of which are vegan, including the legendary footlong vegan sausage roll. They are on my journey to work, so often pop in.

When I lived in Loughborough Junction, I would go to Sophocles in Camberwell. Did all the usual bakery stuff plus lots of Greek ones too. Loved that it was named after an ancient playwright.

 

[killer b]

That went after the remaining family members decided to sell up.

I think this kind of thing is as much responsible for the disappearance of local bakeries over the last few decades as anything else - my grandad hated being a baker and strongly encouraged his kids to do other things with their lives, which they did - so there was no-one to take over when he retired and they sold up (his shop has since been converted into housing).

The independent bakeries round here are never short on customers IME - they have queues down the street each lunchtime. But as the owners reach retirement age, their kids have moved away and have jobs that don't involve making pies and unless they're some kind of local institution they often close altogether once they sell up.

 

[Steel Icarus]

Loads of Cooplands shops round here - 190 total up the East coast of the UK. Decent stuff on the whole but the cakes are always lovely.

 

[heinous seamus]

Where does my auld Dad get a bridie? (That doesn’t involve getting a bus tae Broughty).

I hate to see a man denied a bridie. Do you want me to post one out to you?

 

[Brainaddict]

I think this kind of thing is as much responsible for the disappearance of local bakeries over the last few decades as anything else - my grandad hated being a baker and strongly encouraged his kids to do other things with their lives, which they did - so there was no-one to take over when he retired and they sold up (his shop has since been converted into housing).

The independent bakeries round here are never short on customers IME - they have queues down the street each lunchtime. But as the owners reach retirement age, their kids have moved away and have jobs that don't involve making pies and unless they're some kind of local institution they often close altogether once they sell up.

Hadn't thought about this before, but the hours are pretty hellish - middle of the night starts - and it must be difficult to take holidays unless you've fully trained someone up. And probably half the time you train someone up and they leave.

 

[Sue]

There are Goodfellow and Steven, and Baynes in broughty ferry and central Dundee. Not sure what, if anything, they have in the way of range of breads, tattie scones etc. I mostly go for scotch pies. Last time I asked for an Aberdeen roll they were out.

Wallace Land o' Cakes was my Dundonian BIL's gold standard bakery. (But then he does call a German/Empire biscuit a Belgian biscuit so... )

 

[killer b]

Hadn't thought about this before, but the hours are pretty hellish - middle of the night starts - and it must be difficult to take holidays unless you've fully trained someone up. And probably half the time you train someone up and they leave.

Round here all the businesses in town used to close for the same two weeks of the summer to allow for holidays, some still do - Paul closed his pie shop for the second half of august. But yeah - now these kinds of shops are no longer family affairs in the same way they once were, it's really difficult to ensure continuity once one generation comes to it's end, unless it's a fairly significant business with multiple branches etc.

 

[Skim]

Blackbirds do the very best black forest gateau

I’ll remember that: haven’t had Black Forest Gateau for years!

 

[DaveCinzano]

I miss the 107 Bakery on Stokes Croft in Bristol; their entire stock line seemed to be: white loaf, brown loaf, roll, cheese-topped roll, meat pie. Didn't survive the gentrification of the early 00s.

There was a little neighbourhood bakery on Brook Road in Montpelier just around the corner from the Star & Garter, which had a modest cakes-and-buns offer that was nice, can't remember its name though.

And Clark's on Church Road (Redfield) was a reliably non-artisan pie joint

 

[A380]

Gunns were our local bakers in that town I'm from. Don't remember them being in Bedford before. The Bedfordshire Clanger was definitely not a thing when I was growing up. Despite the internet saying it dates back to the 19th century I have a suspicion it dates back to a Guardian article in about 2012.

The best baker ever is Herberts in Montpelier in Bristol. Used to see queues going down the street for their bread.

I lament the loss of easily available fresh bread made in proper bakeries.

Gunns main shop is in Biggleswade, I think they used to have one in Sandy too. Clangers deffo been around since 94 as I had my first about then…