Keat’s at the present (1985) post office – there was a bakehouse there. Pryor’s at Napper’s. One where Mrs Mitchell was, Albert Smith and James. The boys used to line up outside with ha’pennies, and ask for a ha’pennyworth of broken biscuits.
You could get something for a ha’penny then, ’cause I remember somebody gave me a penny once, an’ I had good value of that; I went to John Pryor to change it for two ha’pennies, and went up to Mrs Keat and spent a ha’penny, and that other ha’penny somewhere else. I don’t think John Pryor would be pleased; you didn’t buy anything there.
Oh, he used to come round for the orders, and I said “the bill’s come to a lot of money, Mr Pryor.”
“Well,” he says “you’d better pay me than the doctor.” That was his answer. Did the bakehouses cook for the families? Turkeys at Christmas?
Oh yes. We used to take the dough up there, or the flour. They’d bake the bread for a week. A lot of the cottagers would take the joint, wouldn’t they, to cook on Sunday? Sundays, yes.
When did that stop?
About the nineteen thirties.
Did you have a grate in your kitchen, or was it just an open fire?
There was a range in some and open fires in others, and an oven at the side of them. The majority had a range if they did much cooking.
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