Bread & Cakes
See also under Flour for more on flour milling and distribution
Bread does not 'keep' very well and local bakeries were well established long before the railways arrived, so bread has not been moved by rail as far as I am aware. Cake however was being sold nationally by the later 19th century. Bakeries are an easy proposition as they do not require distinctive buildings or structures, although the traffic is somewhat limited it is mostly in vans or tanks, so there is no problem with loaded and empty wagons coming and going.
Modelling Bakeries
By the later 1930s there were some large bakeries, built to supply shops in a wide area and which could justify a railway siding. I have found referneces to several examples, for example the CWS had railway sidings run into several of their bakeries, and there were other firms mentioned. I have not found a track plan but the references I found all suggested a single siding into the works.
These large bakeries were multi storey buildings, typically three or four stories tall, usually located in the towns, close to their market. There were no distinctive features particular to the industry, any large building with a couple of chimneys would serve. Any rail connection would have either an internal siding or a platform with an awning (and probably some sack hoists to lift the pre-milled flour). The example shown is a Kibri 'factory' which now has a long loading bank and sack hoist added. A moderately tall chimney would be worth adding.
Fig ___ Kibri 'factory' converted to bakery
Clutter would include some sacks of flour (under cover) and some bread delivery vehicles in the yard.
Traffic inwards would be almost all in vans, sacks of flour, sugar, salt and other ingredients, possibly some steel drums. You might see coal wagons with coal for the boilers and even the odd rail tanker (molasses or milk) if the factory produced cakes as well as or instead of bread. Outgoing might be boxes of cakes but the bread would be for local consumption, delivered by road vehicles to the customers. Grain sacks were very large, flour is a lot more dense and the sacks were correspondingly smaller.
Fig ___ Typical 1930s flour sack
Background to bread and Cake Bakeries
By the time the railways arrived bakeries were using the 'side-flue oven', a brick-built arched structure with a flat tiled floor. The flue from a furnace at the side of the oven fed the oven, the hot air passing through the oven chamber before exiting into a vertical funnel built over the oven mouth. Mechanical dough mixing became practical thanks to developments in the industrial revolution, by the 1860s practical steam powered. belt driven machi8nes were available. The definitive machine was Paul Pfleiderer's two-bladed "Universal" mixer introduced in 1879.
Bakeries had been closely regulated up to 1815 but then the controls were lifted and small enterprises started up, often in cellars where hygiene was not the best. By the 1860's specialist cakes were being shipped around the country, Pontifract cakes, made with locally grown licorice, are an example.
The Food and Drugs Act of 1875 was partly a response to the problems caused by the proliferation of small bakeries and one consequence was the trend in the 1880's towards larger bakeries able to invest in powered equipment. The availability of railway transport for these larger bakeries provided the real impetus for national distribution of more specialised goods and there were some wonderful names, one which I rather like being 'The Far Famed Cake Company'.
Bakeries are by their nature geared up to supply local demand, prior to the 1950's most were small and few were rail connected, relying instead on road deliveries from the local goods yard.
By the 1930s the flour millers were offering ready mixed flour for bread making, they also supplied specially embossed baking tins and external signs to allow the customer to advertise the product. Good examples are Hovis and Turog, which supplied local bakers and also cafe's that made their own bread (sometimes the bread was actually made by the local baker, but the cafe also got the signs to put up). Pre-sliced bread appeared in the UK in 1930, the local baker might wrap a loaf in paper (most didn't bother) but sliced bread from a larger bakery had to be wrapped. The standard wrapping was made of waxed paper, printed with the company logo, in the 1970s plastic bag bread wrappers came in (but I believe waxed paper is still used for some brands).
By the later 1930s there were some bakeries offering wholesale bread to shops in a wide area. This required the use of 'bread vans', the example below dates from the mid 1930s (the vehicle is an Albion 30-35cwt van).
1930s Bread Van
At that time over 80 percent of the bread was still produced in local 'craft' bakeries. At the outbreak of the Second World War the government took steps to control the milling and bread-making industry, they subsidised bread production and set up organisations to ensure supplies were maintained. After the war, in 1946, bread was rationed for the first time when world grain supplied fell far short of demand. There were also 30 million Germans facing famine in the ruins of their country.
In the post war era the bread (and cake industry) began to consolidate into a few large producers. Concerned that their margins might be threatened by the bakeries, the milling industry sought to secure their markets. Rank and Spillers began diversifying by forming their own baking companies, which became known as British Bakeries and United Bakeries respectively. These new flour milling and bakery companies were delivering bread direct to peoples homes using motor vans (this brought the rapid decline of the small craft baker in the later 1950s). The larger bakeries used van bodied lorries (often with both side and end doors as shown below left) to supply shops and supermarkets, for local deliveries they often used smaller walk-thru' type vans as shown below right.
Typical Post War Bread Vans
By the early 21st Century the family owned craft bakeries on towns and villages only produced about 3 percent of the bread sold, the giant national firms or 'plant bakeries' produce about 80 percent, with the more recent in-store supermarket bakeries producing about 17 percent.
The UK bread and morning goods market in the early 21st Century is worth almost £2.9 billion and is one of the largest sectors in the food industry. Total volume is approximately 4.4 billion units, the equivalent of nearly 12 million loaves and packs every single day.
In 2009 the three largest baking companies in the plant sector are Allied Bakeries (Kingsmill), British Bakeries (Hovis) and Warburtons. The largest of these is Warburtons, which has seen rapid expansion, moving from third to first place in the last 5 years.
Notable British Bakeries
J. Lyons & Co Lyons took over Cadby Hall bakery in London in 1894, they used a slightly unusual manufacturing process which lead to them adding a sign proclaiming 'steam bakery' to produce high glaze and thin crust 'Vienna bread'. They operated their famous chain of tea shops and set up bakeries to supply these establishments. They opened bakeries in Sheffield (1900), Leeds (1901), Liverpool (1903), Manchester (1906), Nottingham (1910), Brighton (1929) Banbury, Bristol/Brislington Bakery (1950), Chessington Bakery (1954), Crawley Bakery (mid 1950s), Wakefield, Yorkshire (mid 1950s) Eastleigh, Hampshire (early 1960s), in the mid 1960s they took over a former biscuit factory, the Linden Bakery at Govan, Glasgow, and converted it to bread making.
By 1953 Lyons were the third largest producer of bread in the UK although Allied Bakeries and the Co-operative Wholesale Society enjoyed a huge lead. Lyons' national brand was Superbread. During the 1950s, competition from Mother's Pride and Sunblest became so intense that by 1960 Lyons' bread-making position had slipped to fifth place, accounting for only 1 per cent of the national market, although its share in London and Bristol, where the main bread factories were situated, was higher. Traditionally Lyons had favoured the cake market, not only because of its longer shelf life but because there was greater scope for innovation, allowing higher profit margins. By the 1960s their profit from cakes far outstripped the bread side of the business but they kept trying and broadened their range. By 1967 Lyons were producing over fifty varieties of bread and continuing to diversify. In a foray into the developing slimmers' market, the Bread Division brought out a high-protein, low-calorie loaf called Slim-Vita, which was made from stoneground wholemeal flour and baked at a lower temperature than other bread. In 1969 Lyons bought out the bread business of J. W. French and consolidated its own bread business in this now fully owned subsidiary.
Mothers pride Mothers made its first appearance in Scotland in 1936 and became a national brand in 1956. Originally sold wrapped in wax paper, it progressed with technology to introduce the now-familiar plastic bread bag, although Mothers Pride Scottish Plain can (I think) still be bought in wax-wrapped bags. The familiar tartan wrapping of the much-loved Scottish Mothers Pride Plain loaf is an officially recognised tartan. Mothers Pride tartan was registered with the Tartan Society on June 1st 1996 and is used on the packaging of the range of Mothers Pride Scottish bread and bakery products. Mothers Pride was taken over by Rank Hovis McDougall (discussed below).
Hovis Hovis flour was on sale from the 1880's, the bread was baked locally in bakers and the once common 'Hovis and Teas' tea rooms. Noted for staying fresh as it had a high oil content. Hovis selling establishments, bakeries and 'hovis and teas' shops were supplied with a 3-D embossed sign on a metal frame.
Turog bread was introduced to the UK in 1903, as with Hovis the flour was sold to local bakeries who were then allowed to advertise. Turog supplied its shops with a 3-D sign made of bass relief lettering on a metal frame to mount on the outside wall, the same style of lettering was also used for painted signs on the walls of the bakers.
They had a factory in Cardiff and were a national brand by the 1950s.
Wonderloaf (sliced) was introduced in 1937. The first pre-sliced loaf had appeared in Britain in 1930 but I believe this was the first 'national' brand.
Wonderbread was introduced in 1955.
Sunblest
Warburtons were established as a Grocery shop on Bolton in 1870. In 1897 they opened a bakery and by the 1920s they were selling wrapped loaves. In the 1950s they began buying up other local bakeries, by the mid 1960s they were operating four modern bakeries, expanding distribution across the North West and in the 1980s they started to serve Yorkshire as well. In the mid 1990s they opened a bakery in Nottingham then another at Bellshill in Scotland, in 2003 they opened their 11th bakery at Enfield in London.
Allied Bakeries originally founded by Canadian Willard Garfield Weston in 1935, initially as Food Investments Limited, the name changed to Allied Bakeries Limited almost immediately. In 1960 the name was changed again to Associated British Foods. In 1963 the Company acquired Fine Fare, a leading British supermarket chain. The company sold Fine Fare in 1986 and in 1991 went on to acquire British Sugar. In 2000 the company sold its interests in Burton's Biscuits. In 2004 it acquired the Tone's spice business and Fleischman yeast business from Burns Philp and in 2007 it purchased Patak's Indian food business. The Company has a one-third share of the bread market and provides a wide range of bread, rolls, and morning goods, as well as part-baked lines for bake-off in retailers' stores, and specialist bread used by sandwich-makers. The Company delivers to tens of thousands of shops daily or twice-daily, and has both a thriving own-label business and a strong portfolio of brands including the leading Kingsmill range, complemented by others such as Allinson, Burgen, and Sunblest.
British Bakeries was set up by Rank, Hovis, McDougall in 1955 to counter the then dominance of Allied Bakeries (who's national brand of bread was Sunblest) and ensure an outlet for their flour products. Mother's Pride, which had been sold in the North since 1936, was marketed as a national brand by the new division in 1956, the company also offered Nimble (reduced calorie) and Hovis branded loaves as well as supermarket 'own brand' ranges. For a time in the 70s and 80s Mother's Pride was the best selling white bread in the UK.
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