This article was written by Carrie Maestas and was originally published by Oxhey Village Environment Group in the September 2016 newsletter.
Footnotes with additional information are available after Carrie’s article. If you have additional information on the subjects covered in this article, please contact history@oveg.org.
Long term residents have seen many a local business vanish over the years due to excessive competition in the supermarket age. It is therefore a considerable local accomplishment that the family line of bakers today in Villiers Road have managed to keep their tradition going since the bakery’s inception 140 years ago in 1876.
The original bake house was destroyed by a fire in 1910, and re-built in its present location behind the shop. Since then it has been a hive of industry and in the present day is an astonishing and authentic homage to tradition. No records of prior ownership exist until 1922, but from then a series of different proprietors came and went until in 1935 Charles Loveday and family arrived from North London, with a passion for baking and football, namely Tottenham Hotspur, and so began the Loveday lineage.
The first day’s takings were just 31 shillings. There were at that time about half a dozen bakers also delivering bread in Oxhey, but Loveday’s soon prospered and, with a lot of hard work, their trade increased to £60 per week, until eventually they became the only bakery left in Oxhey. In those early days, the baking was done in the day and then delivered in the evening. However, when war was declared, everything was rationed, preventing the business from expanding further. Charles soon won awards for his baking skills, including making elaborate wedding cakes at weekends, and recorded all his recipes by hand in exercise books.
In 1954 Charles Loveday senior died and his son, Charles, who many villagers came to know as ‘Charlie,’ took over. Charlie inherited both his father’s love of Spurs and the art of baking. His wife Jean ran the shop and initially they employed a young assistant in the bake house until their son, Alan was old enough to learn the ropes.
After a long, successful career as the premier local baker with a loyal customer base from far and wide, Charlie retired at age 77 in 1985 to look after Jean, who had become ill. However, the love of his craft did not wane and he continued to advise Alan on the day to day running of the business right up to the day he died, at the age of 93.
Since taking over in 1985, until the present day, Alan Loveday has maintained the proud legacy of his father and grandfather through many hours of hard work and an intricate knowledge of each recipe passed down from father to son. Added to this is the remarkable bake house, which is like walking back in time, or into a baking museum. The equipment is both fascinating and fabulous, being the original machinery of 1910, and features a rarely found coal-fired side flue oven, converted to gas in 1976, which is said to impart a distinct flavour and crustiness to the bread.
Alan recalls his mother dutifully counting the sacks of coal being delivered, and reprimanding the coal merchants when they were three sacks short. Even the old mixing troughs are still there, where hands would once mix up all the dough before the introduction of electric mixers, now they form bases for the stainless steel work tops that modern day catering requires. Original tools, long peels for bringing the bread from the deep oven and all the various baking utensils create a historical scene that speaks of an ancient craft still performed in the traditional way, without additives and preservatives, the Loveday way.
Alan does have to work hard and currently puts in an average of 90 hours per week, employing just 3 part time staff, Sue, Jo and Wendy to work in the shop. His routine is a bit different to his forebears as he rises at 2am each day to mix the dough and allows a good three hours for it to rise before being formed in tins ready to bake. The timing is then perfect for the shop shelves to be lined with the aroma of freshly baked goods at opening time. He re-supplies various items throughout the day but tries to get a short nap in the afternoons before retiring to bed at around 9-10pm. His days are long!
Alan’s wife, Lynn and their 21 year old son, Daniel help with all the confectionary, making this the fourth generation of the Loveday family to work in the bakery. Their daughter, Kelly has resisted the lure of baking and works elsewhere. Daniel, like his father, grandfather and probably great-grandfather, started helping regularly at around 11 years old, and currently works around three hours a day. Alan recalls getting 50p for helping on Saturdays but also remembers putting dough pies through the machine when he was just 7. Daniel, who was working as a local football coach until recently unfortunately dislocating his knee, is yet to decide whether to carry on the family business when Alan retires and is not under any pressure to do so because of the hard work and long hours. Perhaps Daniel will break with tradition as, after all, he is an Arsenal supporter. A distant groan, or two, can be heard from somewhere beyond!
Time will tell.
Today, the Lovedays are one of the last family bakers left in Watford and they are very grateful for the loyal support of their customers in the village, and from miles away, who really appreciate their traditional quality. They rely on this support to keep the business viable. Even after all this time, Alan still takes satisfaction from baking the perfect loaf of bread, and says he welcomes getting requests for doing something new, like pumpkin bread, or whatever residents would like to try. He perishes the thought of developers ever turning his magnificent bake house and shop into flats. It will be a sad day indeed if this surviving bastion of village industry ever closes down like the rest of them.
Our daily bread could be doomed to be chain made in bulk and the children of Oxhey may not be able to enjoy the treats of froggy cakes or iced buns after school. However, now that independents and artisans are very much in vogue, perhaps now is the time to realise our good fortune and really savour those crusty rolls and loaves of bread made the Loveday way since 1935, in a 106 year old oven, in the heart of this village.
Further information
Loveday’s in 1990s
An separate article about Loveday’s bakery was also written in 1993. You can read ‘Lovedays’s Bakery; making lots of dough!’ here.
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