Me too!

Would also be interested, please keep us informed.

Can I just add that It is still legal to bake bread at home. You can this without the need for a lawyer or an accountant. Kneading dough has all kinds of side benefits I would imagine although I'll bet no one can wait until the loaf has cooled off before eating a slice or six.

I'm much too lazy to knead my own dough, and there's no space in the kitchen for yet another machine. We'd happily join a co-op bakery.

My main question would be how long we'd have to subscribe for. I imagine this sort of business requires a substantial amount of capital to get if off the ground. That would come, at least in part, from subscribers. In other words, a certain number of people would have to pay for x number of weeks upfront, right? I'd kinda like to try the bread before I commit to six months or a year's worth of loaves.

@Reg, like Andy I don’t think the numbers will stack up easily. I listened to the Radio 4 thing about Handmade Bakery. It sounded great, I like how they keep varying the bread and coming out with new recipes. But it’s a rural model, and let’s face it, there’s stuff all else to do out there. I had thoughts about opening a bakery in Stroud Green myself, and there’s been the pub talk too.

There’s a lot of competition to consider and people are so fickle. They get bored and grumpy at the slightest thing, then they boycott you forever. I wonder if a lot of the people on here get their bread delivered with their organic veg from Abel and Cole etc, it’s kind of easier.

If you had a shop premises, you would need to sell lots of coffee to bring in more profit. For some reason people prefer to spend £2.50 on coffee than, the same, on a loaf of bread. Stroud Green’s not exactly affluent. Any successful bakery would need all of those Crouch Enders stopping off on the way up and down the hill and coming in. You would need them literally getting off the bus or parking the car, making a special trip and queuing around the block, to sell enough of the stuff. They would have to come in because the croissant were so delicious, but still reasonably priced, the excellent customer service and the fact that there was nothing else like it nearby.

This then brought me to how I would put Dunns out of business, which I think is essential to the project. You would need all of that custom. After going into Dunns and studying the individual, I felt a seductive temptress might be able to send him off the rails and make him take his eye off his business. Later I thought maybe a rent boy would be what’s needed. It wouldn’t so much be the procurement of the rent boy, but the keeping him to the job description that might prove tricky. Then it all, just kind of, gets further away from the original purpose of selling bread.

Anyway I’d love a good local bakery.

The Front Room always seems busy and less popular cafes such as Dream River & Coffe Haven look to be doing ok, so any baker who can combine the bread/pastry/coffee model even moderately well could be very successful. Euphorium on Upper St (both branches) might be a good model.

The point is most successful "bakeries" in London are cafes first, bakeries second in terms of how they make their money. It seems fairly easy to run a viable cafe in Stroud Green, vaguely nice ones (e.g. Front Room), seem to do especially well, so get that right and the bakery will look after itself.

Good for Food is full of mums with buggies during the day. As a rule, I don't approve of screaming toddlers, but it shows that there are people around during the day. A family-friendly cafe/bakery would go down well.

Quality is key to any successful business. Remember when Petek first opened? Or Dotori? They were dead for a while, but once word of mouth spread, they started to fill up. Dotori is now packed at lunchtime.

There were a couple bakeries by Tesco, but they weren't any good. Why would anyone spend £2.50 on a loaf of mediocre bread? I'm happy to pay extra for quality, but I can get average goods at Tesco for less.

We do get bread through Abel and Cole, but we'd happily switch to a nice local bakery.

Btw, has anyone tried the bread at the Happening Bagel Bakery? Their bagels are pants. The challa isn't very good, either. I prefer Grodzinski's.

I'd definitely be up for eating some of the Stroud Green loaf. Some decent bread outlets can be found here: (I should declare an interest here as this is one of the projects i manage at work), although the nearest listed shop is in Highbury.

We used to get some lovely bread through a Riverford veg box (I know, I know) but apparently the bread is so popular that they've had to temporarily stop

I'm with @Markwhitehead. I also make my own bread just for my family. I wouldn't want small business moving in to the area and destroying all these micro-businesses like ours...

Agreed, Miss A. I mostly go to Tesco's, because it's nearer, but Lidl's is far cheaper, has better quality products, and better queuing arrangements. I just wish the two stores could swap places!

It's a great idea. Except for the part where I feel like we're recreating Archers storylines. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/archers/backstage/village_shop2.shtml

Not that that's a bad thing.

Was the consensus that this isnt economically viable? Really fed up with supermarket bread...

If we can't have a bakery, how do we go about setting up a Stroud Green Farmers Market to satisfy our posh bread, veg and burger needs?

Reckon something like that would really help give the high street a boost at weekends.

These people do a nice French and Italian market in East Finchley -
maybe worth contacting them about a market for SGR?
Just an idea.

Boulangerie being french for bakery and all.

There is a really good bakery stall at Archway Market - junction of Holloway Rd and St.John's Gove - on a Saturday. Also an excellent secondhand book stall and a knitting stall run by one of our fellow SG'ers.

Why on earth Crouch End needs a Farmer's Market when they already have an award winning baker,top notch greengrocer, fishmonger, butcher and a Budgens selling every overpriced organic thing you could ever need, is beyond my imaginings.

SG would be a much better place for it. There must be some manky old school playground that they could set up in of a weekend.

BBM's bread looks and tastes to me like the pre-proved frozen bake-off variety you get from wholesalers like Delice de France. I don't know if it is that or not, but if it is, it's no better than what you get in Sainsbury's or Tesco's, perhaps people are more swayed by the environment than the product.

Yes, if you're on foot it's just a brisk 15 minute trot from SG to Archway market. Well worth a visit, there really is some good stuff to be had.

It's unfortunate that it's called Archway market - makes it sound a bit scummy which it most definitely is not.

Point taken about farmers markets – there are a lot around already.

Given the footfall on Stroud Green Road though – both from locals and people passing through on buses – there must be potential for something. Perhaps something which helps to build on and support the areas existing independent shops and restaurants.

How about some sort of market where local shops / restaurants / cafes / craftspeople can set up stall and bring their wares / food and drink to a wider audience? I'm sure the likes of Season and Petek would set up bbq, along with stalls from the likes of Chez Liline and Tony's or Godfrey's and the Station House Community Cafe thing!

In some ways this would be better than a farmers market as money spent stays in the local economy and helps to support existing local businesses.