Across Bromley Borough there is an unmet demand for ‘Real Bread’ and very few retailers in the area sell handmade, traditional breads. At the Croft Tea Room in St Mary Cray, we decided to take the challenge to source and supply artisan breads to our local community.
We applied and received funding from ‘Urban Food Routes’, which helped us kick start a ‘Passion for Bread’ project. Most challenging was finding a bakery which produced high quality artisan breads and who would supply to our location. After lots of research and trials we found an established artisan and organic bakery and also a local passionate home baker, who was keen to expand its home business and support our project.
During December we held Saturday morning bread stalls at the Tea Room and attracted a range of local visitors, who were sharing their support and gratitude for what we were trying to do. They confirmed that there is a high demand for traditionally baked sourdough, rye and spelt breads, and in a short time we were able to establish a small number of regular customers. At our last event, we sold all our stock even before closing time. We consider our ‘Passion for bread’ project a great success and we will continue our service after Christmas and into the New Year. We are now looking for a passionate bread Volunteer to organise the stall after February!
www.crofttearoom.co.uk
