The Beginning

In November 1915 Augustus Asker married Florrie Hill in Stamford.
He was 23 years old and had already been working as a baker for several years in Norfolk where he was born.

The newly married couple lived at 15 All Saints Street.
This was wartime and a month after the marriage Augustus signed up for service in the Army Service Corps as a baker. Their eldest child, Raymond Alger, was born in September 1916, then in February the next year he was mobilised and posted to Ireland for the rest of the war.

On his return, the family continued to live at 15 All Saints Street and two more children were born. Augustus worked for the Co-op bakery.

In 1926 Mr Chambers, who had a grocery shop at 9a St Peter's Street died. The shop also had a bakehouse down King's Mill Lane.

Augustus went to help Mrs Chambers out in the bakehouse and when she decided to sell the business in 1927, he purchased the bakery from her. (The shop was sold separately.)

King's Mill Lane Bakehouse

When Augustus bought the bakehouse there were cobbles on the floor, bare stone walls and a steep ladder stair to the loft. There were doorways providing access to the grocery shop and there were stables across the lane. The coal-fired oven was made by London oven builders, Kemp & Sons (see next page).
It had most probably been installed soon after Herbert Andrews opened the premises at 9a St Peter's Street as a grocery and bakery in 1879. It was a large oven which could bake 220 tin loaves and used a sophisticated method of distributing the heat. The doorways may have been blocked, the cobbles replaced with tiles and the walls covered but Augustus would probably still recognise the bakehouse if he returned today. He would certainly recognise the oven still in use 90 years on!

Early Days

Augustus having bought his own bakery, moved with his wife Florrie (and by now 3 children) from All Saints Street to 51 Broad Street. They lived upstairs and had a confectionary shop downstairs. In due course, all the younger members of the family were involved in the business. Raymond joined his father in the bakery, Ruby ran the confectionery shop and later the sweet shop and Terence (who also had a job with the Electricity Board) kept the books.
In the 1930s they also cooked Sunday dinners for local people. People would bring their roast down about 11 am and collect it later when it was ready.
In these early days, the bread was delivered using their own horse and cart.
The stables and cart shed were down King's Mill lane near the shop. Quite soon they acquired a motor van and they were able to carry on using the van during World War II as bakeries were considered essential for the country and had a petrol allowance. In the 1950s another shop was opened at 5a Red Lion Street. A wide range of confectionery, bread and sweets were now available in the two shops in the centre of town.

Five Generations of Askers

Augustus and Florrie died within 3 weeks of each other in 1965, however by this time, Raymond's son Stuart was set to move into the business. In due course Stuart took charge and trained his son Kerry – the 4th generation of bakers.
Currently Stuart is still often be found helping in the bakery in King's Mill Lane and does the book keeping while Kerry is in charge of the baking. Kerry is helped by his son Callum, who is learning the trade.

Askers Today - 90 Years Old

Bread

Askers are one of only 5 bakeries in the country using the old style of coal ovens.

The same Kemp oven is still fired up at 5:30 am each morning. The old cart shed is used to store the flour and the stables have been converted into living accommodation.

In the past they would have only made batches of white or brown bread but today they have a large variety of different breads.

If customers request the latest trends they try baking a small batch and if it sells well, it becomes a regular product.

They have also added pizza slices and savoury rolls for lunchtime snacks.

Cakes

Askers continue to make a wide selection of cakes using old family recipes.
Popular specialities are lardy cakes, swiss rolls and iced buns but different customers no doubt have their own favourites.

They cook all the cakes in a flatbed oven which is at least 60 years old. It was bought from a firm in Stilton and transported here and heaved upstairs. They did try a fan assisted oven but did not find it satisfactory.
Another interesting machine they use is a 30 year old Baker Perkins which forms the rolls prior to baking.

Shops

In the not-so-distant past virtually all Asker's bread and cakes were sold in their shop in Red Lion Street but as people now shop in supermarkets and fewer do their daily shopping in the high street, they also supply several villages.

Their bread can now be bought in the village shops in Ryhall, Empingham, Ketton and Baston and it can also be bought at the Hindmarch and Great Casterton petrol stations. They have supplied the George Hotel for the last 45 years. Nowadays they also supply the Crown and the Shakespeare Season at Tolethorpe.

Individual Sunday roasts are no longer brought to the bakery but Askers now provide an alternative, but not on Sundays!

The oven makes excellent hog roasts – perfect for a party.

Kemp and Sons

John Kemp started a business in Stepney in the 1830s or 1840s and developed new types of ovens for private use and for bakeries.

Kemps was based at 127 Stepney Green East from 1871 and as John's sons joined the business the name was changed to Kemp and Sons in 1878.

The eldest son, John Dewson Kemp (1842-1900) became known as an expert on the building and care of bakery ovens.