Where can I get decent bread in central Brixton?
- Thread starter Orang Utan
- Start date
It doesn't make me sick either, but it's a little sad that such a traditiomal staple is increasingly being positioned as a luxury or artisan product - it's a loaf of traditional averagish bread for christsakes.
FWIW. The large convenience stores on Tulse Hill get some decent granary bread in from a local baker - £1.70ish to just over £2 for good quality loaves, dependent on the size/style. Nune's gets some wonderful baps in as well - 30p for the kind of whapping floury goodness that you can fit a whole fry up into.
FWIW. The large convenience stores on Tulse Hill get some decent granary bread in from a local baker - £1.70ish to just over £2 for good quality loaves, dependent on the size/style. Nune's gets some wonderful baps in as well - 30p for the kind of whapping floury goodness that you can fit a whole fry up into.
Kanda said:It's not like all loaves now cost nearly 3 bloody quid is it? The traditional staple bread hasn't increased either has it?? What I call *foreign muck* breads are more expensive yes but it's hardly gentrifying an area is it ..
What's with your rolleyes? You got a bizarre form of conjuntivitis or something?
Truth is, a hefty proportion of bread that's not produced via the Chorleywood process is sold at comparatively high prices around here. That's not the case in other parts of Britain - partly because some independent bakers haven't been killed off by the likes of Greggs and the supermarkets - where a decent, 'properly' baked loaf can cost far less. Hell, it's telling that other communities in the area - see A&C and Nune's - can get hold of much cheaper bread than the 'artisan' suppliers favoured by more monied English types
It doesn't disgust me, or get me furious, but I do find a little bit indicative of one of the things where the gap between the 'haves' and 'have nots' seems to become wider around here - a choice between bum standard or 'artisan' products to a large extent. It'd be nice to have more of a middle ground in general.
So you can take your rolleyes and your passive-aggressive 'take it or leave it' nonsense and shove it up your posterior.
A few extra
for effect at you too.I've not come up with anything which resembles the word gentrifying on this thread, so that's a peculiar obsession in your own bizarre breadhead space. I'm still struggling to understand why you're getting on your high horse.
Take it from me, better bread used to be available to the mainstream at lower cost in Brixton. It wasn't always Kingsmill, Mothers Pride or some artfully established "Artisan' bakery you know. And around there used to be fields.
Take it from me, better bread used to be available to the mainstream at lower cost in Brixton. It wasn't always Kingsmill, Mothers Pride or some artfully established "Artisan' bakery you know. And around there used to be fields.
Ms T
Honey-coloured ramparts
tarannau said:
But the granary bread you mention may well be produced by the Chorleywood method too - and it's hardly cheap at £2. The stuff in the bakery in Herne Hill is the real deal - made with organic flour, and you can taste that it's been properly fermented and proved. It's very filling too, so you eat less of it. A loaf lasts the two of us nearly a week, although admittedly we don't eat tons of bread.
twistedAM
Left Of The Dial
tarannau said:
Dude, it's not just Chorleywood method that's the difference in cost and quality, it's also that these son-of-toil breads use stoneground flour which is lot more expensive to produce than the refined flours used in the supermarket and a lot of the foreign-style breads you talk about.
And granary bread is post-Chorleywood product with a bit of malt, some food dye and a pinch of seeds.
And, before you have a pop, tonight i bought some Warburton's "Thickest Slice" White Bread in old school wax paper. For a mix of air and water and a little flour, it sure does make great big fat sandwiches though!
Ms T said:
That sounds good value compared to a pint of Kronenburg.
Good bread SHOULD be cheaper - or perhaps cheap bread should be better - but a real bakery needs a huge turnover to be able to cover premises, overheads, wages, ingredients, etc etc, and if most people are happy to buy play-doh at 80p, they won't get the trade to bring their prices down.
I look forward to weekends when I can go to Blackbird or one of the stalls in the market on W Norwood High St, for a choice of sourdough, spelt bread etc etc. You can make a meal with very little else if you have good bread. That's one of the ways in which ordinary Spanish, Italian and French people come to eat well and cheaply.
Ms T
Honey-coloured ramparts
zenie said:What if you can't afford £2.50 for a loaf of bread?
Do you think someone living on minimum wage or benefits can afford £2.50 for a loaf of bread?
The thing is zenie that supermarkets keep the cost of bread artificially low - it's a loss leader. I agree that it's a shame that really good bread isn't cheaper, but as OpalFruit says it's because they don't have the volume.
newbie
undisambiguated
tarannau said:
yes, and boy do I miss having a choice of bakers. It's worth wondering about why they're not able to make a living though, and there's more to it than simply blaming Tesco for loss-leaderism.
As I said above, I mourn that one of the last actual bakers has recently shut again (I couldn't remember before, but the name since it last re-opened was 'Tropical Delights', on the CHL entrance of what we're supposed to call 'Brixton Village'
) Their shop usually had a queue, they weren't selling in direct competition with the Tesco/Sainsbury range, what they sold was high quality, hand made, proper, the service was personal and friendly. Yet they've had to shut down twice in the last few years, after being there for a very long time.
I can only presume they weren't making a living, same as all the other bakeries that have shut. Maybe an 'artisan' approach- upmarket, high cost, low volume with full-on food porn marketing- really is the only way to approach the modern shopper? Maybe the division between mass produced cheap'n'cheerful and 'artisan' is squeezing the old fashioned craft shop completely out of existence?
Which leaves the not wealthy without choice
/ramble
poster342002
PROPER leftwing socialist
Who remembers the Paul Tregeser (sp?) bakery on Electric Avenue? Loads of fresh, hot bread. The smell from it used to be lovely. 
When did that place disappear, anyway?
When did that place disappear, anyway?
newbie
undisambiguated
Winot said:
I looked when I was in there last. The large unsliced granary I buy is 94p, a bag of slimy white stuff that even the ducks won't eat is a quid. Not sure what's available for 80p.
Even so, I'm not convinced that blaming the supermarkets for loss-leader unfair competition is really what the decline in bakeries is about. Partly I think convenience is a factor- traditionally the bakery smells lovely at 7am and is sold out by 3pm, which is of no use to those of us who want to shop on the way home at 8. Partly perhaps presentation and style have needed updating- the ones that are successful are that bit more responsive to changing tastes.
Whatever the cause, they close because we don't use them.
Chairman Meow
Perth, WA
newbie said:
That is why they do it, not how. And cheap food is not good if its crap.
Chairman Meow
Perth, WA
Ms T said:
Eh? I'm not sticking up for the supermarkets in my post at all.
Orang Utan
Maybe I like the misery
that was to newbie, reinforcing your point
Chairman Meow
Perth, WA
Orang Utan said:
Ah. Furry muff.
