The East London bakery where ’30 to 40′ builders go every morning for their bacon butties

Staff
By Staff

In between all the chain cafes stuffed with busy commuters, there stands the odd independent, locally-owned cafe. Though increasingly few and far between, some become such a staple in the neighbourhood that it’s hard to imagine the area without them.

One of these is Godfrey’s in Hornchuch – a family-run bakery – a Hornchurch institution since it opened in 1990, and the staff like it so much, they stay for upwards of 20 years.

Owned by Mark Godfrey, 62, the business started out 32 years ago as two bakeries in Hornchurch – one on Station Lane and the other on Butts Green Road in the neighbourhood. Since then, business has boomed and by chance, Mark has been able to expand his bakeries to add two more in Hornchurch and one in nearby Romford.

READ MORE: The Tower Hamlets pub that’s 1 of London’s oldest that was in Only Fools and Horses

Speaking to Mark, he explained that it was ‘pure opportunity’ that the bakeries had been able to expand.

“We didn’t actively seek out the other premises, it was all opportunity. Some came from people we were already supplying to that didn’t want to carry on, another came from a bakery that had folded up,” Mark said. Since then, the bakeries across East London have been a hit, with Mark revealing each shop serves about 200 people daily.

With five shops in total, that’s roughly 6,000 to 7,000 customers flocking in weekly, he explained. It seems the local builders might be contributing to this success.

Nestled close to Emerson Park, known for its grand homes, the bakery on Butts Green Lane is a hotspot for 30 to 40 local builders each day, all busy with projects in the surrounding area. Debbie Smith, 62, from Brentwood, who has clocked up 25 years at the bakery, shared that it’s a firm favourite among both locals and the construction crowd.

“We get a lot of builders coming in every morning who are working on local properties,” Debbie commented. “I’d say we get between 30 and 40 of them in every day, they come in for a bacon and sausage sandwich, bacon butties, that kind of thing.”

Mark also chimed in: “The bakery is popular because it’s great value and people can have whatever they want. If they want a sausage, egg, bacon and jam roll, we’ll do it. The portions are generous and we don’t buy cheap. We use a local supplier and the quality is definitely there. We don’t go looking for cheap products, it’s not worth it.”

Mark shared that, in contrast to many high-street bakeries these days, all their products are crafted at their Ardleigh Green Road shop in Hornchurch and delivered fresh to the other outlets in their ‘chain’. Some of the individual bakeries even bake their items on the premises, including savoury favourites like sausage rolls and Cornish pasties.

He reminisced about the origins of his bakery empire, which began when he was just 12 years old, working at a well-known bakery named Slatters in Sydenham, South London. His early days involved sweeping floors and tidying up on Saturdays, sparking his interest in the baking industry.

As he continued his education and maintained his bakery job, Mark ultimately secured a university spot but chose not to attend. Instead, he landed a role at a Belgian firm called Puratos near Northampton, where he became their youngest rep at the age of 21.

“I was encouraged to stick with the job and I left eight years later as the commercial manager in sales. The two bakeries I bought belonged to a customer [at Puratos] and I took the chance to open them as the first bakeries,” Mark recounted. “It was difficult, we were living in Northampton with two small children,” he added.

“Then I moved down and lived in a room above the shop in Butts Green Road until we could sell the house. My wife at the time moved down later and we bought a little house outside the Station Lane shop.”

Mark has turned his passion for baking into a thriving business, with a loyal team that’s been with him for over two decades. “The staff I’ve got have been with me for over 20 years, I’ve got a good team,” he shared.

“I’m not hands-on in the bakery anymore but we’re fortunate that we’ve kept our staff for a long time – it can’t be a bad place to work!”

He continued: “We’re a homely sort of business, and we don’t was a big corporate image. If people come in and they’ve had a bad day, we given them a coffee and a cake to cheer themselves up. It’s a homely business, and I wouldn’t change that at all.”

While Godfrey’s owes much to the local builders for their patronage, Mark is quick to credit the wider community for the bakery’s success. “We’re very grateful to the local community. We have always been supported by them and we will always support them,” he expressed.

Regarding the future, Mark prefers to stay flexible, having learned from past experiences. “I’d love the bakery to stay just as it is in the future. My son, Chris, is concentrating on the branding and advertising, and we’re trying not to lose that shabby-sheek traditional bakery feel.

“We don’t want to be a Greggs, for example, and we offer a very personal service,” he said. “The staff have been there for so long and it’s been my life. I’ll always be involved in some way or another. 32 years is a very long time, and it’s been there through thick and thin.”

Stay up to date with London’s most exciting events, newest restaurants and latest deals with our What’s On newsletter, Going Out Out. You can sign up HERE.

Share This Article
Leave a comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *