We have soared past our target with more time to go. This is absolutely fabulous. A big thank you to all our supporters.
If you haven't pledged yet, but wanted to, please still do. The additional money raised will go towards other essential equipment like a prover and a mixer, as well as a good coffee machine. 'Home-ground at Homebaked'!
Let's hit the 20.000!
Every pound will make a difference to the future of Homebaked. Thank you!
Who we are
We are a group of Anfield residents working to re-open our local bakery in community ownership, in a part of Liverpool where the community has lost many of its resources and amenities. Our neighbourhood, home of the famous Liverpool Football Club, has been caught up in regeneration politics for nearly 15 years. The beautiful family owned bakery, just across the road from the football ground, was one of the last to go.
With the support of artist Jeanne van Heeswijk, we have taken matters into our own hand and have decided to create a community-owned business and self-build housing project. We have set up the Homebaked Community Land Trust and bakery co-operative, refurbished our old bakery and with your support will be ready to start baking on site again!
Our story
We lost our independent bakery in 2010. Mitchell’s was an Anfield institution for a hundred years – a local landmark, and a family business with a strong sense of social responsibility. People from across the country met “at the pie shop” before the football match, and many of us grew up with the Mitchell's cakes as our weekly treat. (Find out more about the story here)
When Mitchell’s closed down, artist Jeanne van Heeswjik, commissioned by Liverpool Biennial to make a project with young people to create a new vision for the area, offered to rent the iconic building as their base for the 2Up2Down project. (A 2Up2Down is a typical Victorian terraced house.) Working with an architect, they developed a plan to retrofit the bakery and two adjacent houses. Other people of all ages from the community started joining and together we are developing a new model for community-owned housing and enterprise. It is called Homebaked.
We have established a Community Land Trust, which will enable the community to collectively own land and buildings. (Homebaked CLT).
And a smaller group of us started on the venture of establishing the Homebaked Co-operative Anfield to re-open the bakery. We have written a business plan and refurbished the bakery and of course we are getting increasingly excited about bread!
The bakery
The worst times in Anfield are over, people are moving into the area again and there is a demand for good, fresh food, including locally-made bread. Anfield Football Stadium is the second biggest tourist attraction in Liverpool, on match day our street is heaving with fans, but even on normal days we have a steady stream of tourists passing by. Homebaked is a viable business idea and even the most conservative projections give us a good profit margin.
We are a co-operative, so we offer membership to anyone who buys a loaf of bread. And we are run on a one member one vote basis. Our profit will be invested back into the business and help to develop other projects that benefit our community.
But Homebaked will be much more than just a business. It will be a meeting place for people to come and learn about baking and good food. We will offer community baking sessions, apprenticeships and the use of the kitchen for micro-businesses. And like the village bakeries of long ago, if members want to bring their own loaves we will bake them! Homebaked will house a production and training kitchen with an apprenticeship programme, a traditional bakery shop front, a couple of tables to sit and have a coffee with your cake, and a hatch to serve food straight onto the street on match days.
The bakery has already become a hub again. We meet there for we our board and community meetings, we host talks on a variety of topics from bread making to civic economy and meet for a cup of tea and a chat or even a bit of a singalong. (events)
We have two amazing bakers who fell in love with our project, and as soon as we have our oven we will start baking and training on site. Master baker Gary Hindley runs the bakery school at Liverpool Community College, where our baker-in-training Jessica Doyle spends most of her evenings. Malcolm Williams is a specialist in artisan bread making and local food. After a period of training and test trading, we will fully open as a business in June 2013.
But what is a bakery without an oven??
We are re-using many of the items the Mitchell's left for us, but sadly the oven is just too old and neither safe nor efficient anymore. The money you contribute will go straight into buying a new oven. And if we raise any money above the £13,000, we will spend it on other essential baking equipment.
Risks and challenges
We have been working very hard to make this project happen for more than a year now, as volunteers and co-producers. Building something up from the ground and learning skills as we go, as well as learning how to get along as a group isn't always easy. So we are a little conservative in our time planning, so as not disappoint our members, customers and supporters. That's why we are giving ourselves time - till June 2013 - for the full launch of the business.
At the same time we know that it is important to keep the momentum going and that the best way of learning is by doing. Many people come in the bakery and ask: 'When can I get a loaf, a pie, cakes again? What can we do to help?' So as soon as we have the oven we will start on a small scale, bake on order, refine our offer and train our staff. We will update you on our progress every step of the way.
The political situation in this area is still very fragile. We need the support from our local council and from all the residents. How better to show what this is all about then by warming their hearts and bellies with good food and good service?
There are a lot of challenges ahead and we will have to take them step by step. We are very lucky in that we had and have a lot of advice and support from places like Co-operatives UK and Liverpool Community College and can rely on financial and business expertise on our board.
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