Chantrell's Bakery at 42 St Paul's Street by Paul Chantrell

My father and I took over the bakery at 42 St Paul's Street in the mid sixties from Ethel Tyler.

There had been a bakery on the site since the early twenties. Long hours and very early mornings were part of being a baker.
The main oven, bearing a date plate 1928, was still fired with coal and that was an art in itself to achieve the optimum temperature. All the products were made with produce from local butchers, greengrocers and farms. We produced a huge range of goods from several breads, through cakes and confectionery to pastries and pork pies.

One product that demonstrated my father's considerable skill as a confectioner was intricately decorated, traditional wedding cakes. We supplied most of the schools with fare for their Christmas parties. Our biggest order of the year was for the Blackstones children's Christmas party consisting of hundreds of jellies, cakes and rolls.

The Mid-Lent Fair also brought extra business with demand for brandy snaps, Grantham gingerbread, mart rock and fudge. Many of the fair people also stocking up with our products when leaving the town.

Preparations for Christmas started at the end of November with Dundee cakes and continued until Christmas Eve, a couple of thousand or so mince pies may not seem much by supermarket standards but with every one hand made it was an uphill task.

Likewise at Easter with what at the time seemed at least a million hot cross buns though I don't suppose it was that many. We employed many people over the years of whom I have fond memories with many local youngsters coming in after school and on Saturdays.

We closed in 1997 after thirty years of trading and I still meet customers who will refer back to a particular pie or cake that they remember with fondness, some even suggesting that I get my apron on and start again, but even though I have many good memories of my time as a baker in Stamford, I think enough is enough.