fergusjackson

Another recommendation for Nick. Good value, well organised, and a good standard of work. Nice bloke too, very easy to deal with. Fergus

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We had made a conscious decision to try and avoid the East Dulwich Forum as we are aware what a negative place it can be, but we were tipped off that there have been some comments about our pricing, and we wanted to meet them head on. In this day and age, when our high streets have been centralised, commoditised and globalised into oblivion, how do you judge the value of something? Yes our bread is several times more expensive than what you can buy in Tescos, or possibly even your local bakery chain if you have one, but take a moment to look at the ingredients and think about how the bread is made. Our bread is made using just three ingredients. Flour, water and salt. Each loaf is made over two days, all by hand, buy a group of people who really care about what they do. Compare this to your supermarket loaf which is produced by machines to generate maximum yield for the smallest cost and effort and is packed full of chemicals, improvers, sugar, salt and who knows what else to bulk it out. To me this seems more of a rip off than paying more for something that is what it is supposed to be. It also seems strange that the same people who bemoan the decline of the high street also complain when people try to breathe a bit of life into it. Yes we are a business, and we want to make money so we can pay our rent, our staff and carry on doing what we love, but we are not being greedy by charging what we do. Our sandwiches are a very decent size, and packed full of great ingredients from (where possible) local businesses. Like our bread, these ingredients cost more than mass-manufactured, intensively farmed produce. We also don?t have the buying power of Pret or Sainsbury?s, and if we sold them cheaper, we would lose money and yet another business would have to close down. Although I guess our site would be the perfect size for a Tesco Metro. The bottom line is that you can?t judge how small independent businesses operate against the prices of what has become the norm - multi nationals who centralaise and commodotise everything. Even Gail?s isn?t really a fair comparison. The majority of their products are made by a company called The Bread Factory in a massive facility in North London, and then shipped out to the stores each day. Again we would argue that a shop masquerading as a ?local bakery? that doesn?t really do much baking on site is more of a con than a ?6 sandwich. If any one on here who wants to come in and talk to us about any of this, we really would be more than happy to do so. And maybe if we had the opportunity to talk through our processes, then our pricing would make more sense. Many thanks. Fergus & Sharmin

Thanks for the responses everybody. EdHistory, as mentioned in our post, we do not work through the night. Our dough shifts (what you refer to us 'bulk bread production') take place in the afternoons from around mid-day until around 7pm. All our bread has it's final proof in a fridge over night, giving a nice and slow final rise. This is not only great for flavour, but it also means we don't have to work into the early hours. Your other questions are matters for Southwark's planning department, not the forum. Thanks F&S

Hello All, There has been quite a bit of speculation over the last week or so as to whether Brick House will be taking over the old ED Warehouse space, and whilst we have not yet signed the lease, we thought we should respond and say that yes, we hopefully will be. Our plan is for 1 Zenoria Street to become Brick House's new home, housing our current business as well as a shop and cafe. A destination bakery where you can see what you eat and drink being made and baked on site. We will be offering a simple breakfast and lunch menu, as well as afternoon tea and tasty snacks and coffee throughout the day. As Zenoria Street is residential, we are sure that there will be some concerns about trading hours etc, so we are very keen to allay some of these fears. Our proposed opening hours are 8am-6pm Tues - Sat, 10am-4pm Sunday. We are at present planning to be closed on Monday. We also would like to explain that we do not operate in the same way as many bakeries in that we do not work through the night. There will be a small team on site early in the morning baking, but otherwise the premises will be empty for the majority of the time outside of trading hours. We would also like to point out that everything we do is made by hand. It is not an industrial process, and we are a small operation (one delivery van that leaves the baklery at 8am every morning). We are hoping to move our wholesale business into the site after Christmas, and opening the shop and cafe to the public at the beginning of Feb. Finally, we just wanted to say that we are a local business in the truest sense, so we are hoping that we can count on the support of local community and forum. Brick House was born in SE22, my wife and I live just over the common, we employ local people, and we hope to help Lordship Lane to continue to thrive. I hope this answers some of your questions, and please take a look at our website if you would like to find out more about us and our bread www.BrickHouseBread.com Many thanks Fergus & Sharmin Jackson Brick House

We are looking to get some curtains and Roman blinds made for our house and would much prefer to use a local business as opposed to Hillary's or John Lewis. Can anyone recommend someone local to ED / Peckham / Nunhead? Many thanks Fergus

Brick House is looking for a driver to join our team and deliver our bread both locally, and in Central London. Hours are Tuesday - Saturday mornings from 9am (8.30 Saturdays) with shifts lasting between 4 or 5 hours each day. Pay is ?7.50 an hour. Applicants must be punctual, presentable and have a clean full UK driving licence which they have held for 2+ years. If you're interested, or know anyone who is, please drop us a line to [email protected] A bit about us: Brick House is an artisan bakery based in South East London, just off Peckham Rye Common. We specialise in San Francisco style slow fermentation sourdough breads, made using traditional methods and just a few simple ingredients; flour, water, sea salt and naturally occurring yeast. All our sourdoughs are hand made over two days, baked on stone, and use organic flour and other wholesome ingredients including nuts, seeds, grains and dried fruit. We supply shops, restaurants and caf??s with bread 6 days a week, as well as doing farmers markets at the weekends. Our Peckham Rye is the current holder of the Real Bread Campaign?s London Loaf, and we were recently named one of London?s top 5 bakeries in The Financial Times Weekend Magazine.

Can anyone recommend a local business who make and fit blinds and curtains? Any leads gratefully received. Thanks Fergus