Bakeries kept families well fed

Writing her life story at the age of 100, Dorothy Gibson, of Cuddesdon Way, Oxford, remembers having meals which had been cooked in the bakery ovens along the road.

She recalls: “We were living in a four-storey house in Walton Well Road.

“There was a shop on the corner, where we bought doughnuts two for a penny.

“There was a bakehouse attached to the shop.

“As the cooking facilities were rather primitive in our house, one could take things to be baked in the big ovens.

“My mother used to make delicious pastries of all kinds and we could take these to be baked, at a very modest price.”

The bakehouse was also a source of amusement for Dorothy and her friends.

“The shop had a half door which we sometimes mischievously kicked open, just for the joy of seeing the cook come out and wave a rolling pin at us.”

The family did their shopping in Walton Street, where there was a dairy, grocers, a Sea and Land shop, which sold fish and chips, and a greengrocer.

There was also a branch of the famous Oxford drapery store, Capes, where the payment system intrigued Dorothy and other customers.

“The cashier sat on a chair at the end of the shop and the money was shot over in little canister-like containers and change returned by a pulley system.”

Another memorable drapery store was SPQR in St Ebbe’s – Small Profits, Quick Returns.

“This shop fascinated me as there was a colourful little bird in a gilded cage. When you put a penny in the slot, it would sing a little song.”

Dorothy’s parents had businesses in Cowley Road.

Her mother ran a confectionery shop called The Cosy Nook, where you could buy an ice cream cornet for a halfpenny and a wafer for two pence.

The ice cream was made in a small container, put in a small bucket surrounded by ice and freezing salt and turned by hand.

Her father was in the watch and clock trade.

“At one time, he had a wonderful collection of grandfather clocks and would spend a whole day mending the hands of one.”