Comments on: Eleanor Crow’s East End Bakers

By: Peter Martin

Peter Martin — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 11:59:13 +0000

I REMEMBER KOSSOFFS IN PETICOAT LANE, LOVELY BREAD AND DONUTS THE BEST
AND LONDON CHEESECAKES WITH THE COCONUT ON

By: Irene Lilian Pugh

Irene Lilian Pugh — Tue, 16 May 2023 12:37:37 +0000

Rinkoffs Vallance Road – where is this property situated? Which end of Valance Road would this Jewish building be?
Is it true that Hoxton was the most poorest and roughest area of the EastEnd?
The pictures truly capture the colourful fabric of the Eastend.
Thank you for sharing.
Irene

By: Caroline Martin

Caroline Martin — Sun, 14 May 2023 20:30:18 +0000

I remember Percy Ingle’s in Lea Bridge Road. I used to buy bread from there when I lived just round the corner off Markhouse Road.

Not on the list of bakeries is Kossoffs. I worked in one of the tax offices in Finsbury Square in the 1970s and 80s and I used to buy my lunch from there. The rolls were big poppy seed rolls with great chunks of cheese filling and they used to sell huge slabs of bread pudding. The rolls cost 30p each and there was always a queue out of the door at lunchtimes. The branch near Broad Street must have gone when area was redeveloped but I remember walking through Wentworth Street (I think it was), some years ago and there was still a Kossoffs there, though I suppose it is gone now.

By: nicholas borden

nicholas borden — Thu, 11 May 2023 10:38:23 +0000

nice work

By: Helen

Helen — Thu, 11 May 2023 09:31:59 +0000

I love these illustrations. I wish we still had a traditional bakery in our town. Ironically the last painting shows a “Daren” bread sign, the flour was milled back in the day here in Dartford, Kent, on the River Darent, hence the name!

By: Christine Swan

Christine Swan — Thu, 11 May 2023 06:01:41 +0000

Thank you Eleanor and the GA for a colourful tour of East End bakeries. I really do wonder what European tourists make of us. We have allowed supermarkets to dominate and one trip to buy everything in one place, seems to be all we have time for. Not for me. We have few bakers here in Worcester but I sniff them out and reroute my walk back from the station to pass one. We are not as dedicated to bread as the French but when I am there, I do buy bread bread every day – freshness is everything. It’s about time we started moving away from supermarkets and supported our small independent businesses. Sadly, I know that supermarkets often offer the lowest prices which for many must be the driving factor. Sad isn’t it?