Many thanks Jim for this information about Landers - my grand parents business. I love hearing and reading about it all and find it very sad it was 'lost'. I am pleased that my family were well thought of. I am slowly collating my family history so it will add to the knowledge for my daughter and son and future generations.

Having experienced life on both sides, I can see why Landers had to close their doors. With the advent of the Supermarkets in the early 1960's, bakeries were losing money,hand over fist.... Because of the success of the Supermarkets, the corner shops were disappearing by the hundreds...Not only were the corner shops closing,so were the Newsagents, the Tobacconists, the Butchers, the Bakers, the Florists, the Grocers, the chemists, the Petrol Stations, the Cheese shops, the Pie shops,the Fishmongers,the Fruit and Veg shops,and many many more...In the first instance,the Supermarkets allowed the major brand bakeries to supply their requirements. Nevertheless, it was not long before the Supermarkets put in their own small ovens and baked bread themselves...However, they could not supply the amount of sliced bread required by the public..therefore the major brands were chosen to supply the Supermarkets,but at a price,a higher discount was required ! This took it's toll on the bakeries like Landers, Blanchards, and even Mothers Pride. Bakeries were closing at an alarming rate during the 60's and 70's...Landers did exeptionally well to survive as long as they did. This of course was happening all over the country And so my fellow workers, please don't blame the management, they did a wonderful job. Nor can one blame the unions, they were trying to look after your interests... I know, I also used to be a Shop Steward ! My very best wishes to you all....A.C.

Memories... I joined the staff of Landers in May 1949 as a Vanboy. I was chosen by Jack Pearson to go with Digger Townroe on round 7, the Hucknall round. What a great choice for my introduction to the Bakery industry. Digger met his wife Violet to be, in a shop that we delivered to named Hunters. She worked there as an assistant. For some reason, after a quite a long spell with Digger, I was moved up the ranks of the vanboys to go on the top round with Ken Fearn. This was known as the Shirebrook round... Ken himself, eventually became the Sales Manager of Landers, with a further promotion to Sales Director of British Bakeries at Park House. Manchester. I was with Ken for about 2 years,working hard, but loving every minute...The memory that will stick with me forever is... The day we went to Cresswell Colliery on the day of the Pit disaster, must have been in 1950. I believe there were 80 miners who died in that disaster. Of course we had to deliver to the pit canteen, but I shall never forget the look on the families faces who were waiting for news of their loved ones...There were hundreds of people there waiting.

It is a well known fact that if a company wishes to increase sales... One way to do it is to bring out a new line or product...So it was in 1955 that British Bakeries brought out a new slimming loaf " Nimble "...The launch of the loaf was greatly advertised on Television and posters. The Television program showed a slim young lady in a Hot Air Balloon.... In addition to the T.V.advertising, British Bakeries offered five top prizes of £100 to the five top salesmen who sold the most over an eight week period... This involved all the bakeries throughout R.H.M. Landers took two of the five prizes.!!!!

Further to my previous comments regarding bakery closures, and to show that Landers were not alone in their demise. I include a small list of other bakeries who went down the same route and have also disappeared. I do know there are many many more, to many to name. Harveys- Wigan. Rathbones-Wigan. Halls- Wigan. Guests-Leigh. Ideal- leigh. Almonds-Wytheshawe. Rolands.- Craigs.-Wythenshawe. Champion. White Chief. Sunblest.(Hames)- Stockport. Mellings.-Farnworth. Duncan and Forster.-Old Trafford. Prices.-Manchester. Sayers.-Liverpool. Champion.-Stoke. Wheatabix.-Leicester. Moores.-Salford. Sunblest.-Notts. Coop.- Manchester. Derby. Mansfield. Mothers Pride.- Old Trafford. Chesterfield. Coventry. Blanchards.-Watnall. Wonderloaf.-Bolton. Whittles.- Littleborough. Mothers Pride.- Liverpool. Plus large bakeries all over the country in all the large cities and towns. These bakeries employed thousands of people. A.C.

I must comment on the closure list,  Harveys of Wigan are still trading as Premier Foods British Bakeries Wigan, and weren't Prices taken over by Greggs, Blanchards were and still are in Watnall as Premier Foods British Bakeries Nottingham. Champion Bakery Stoke became a Kipling Bakery and was still there ten years ago. Sayers Liverpool keep going bust but then reappear as someone else, and the local closures you missed close to Landers were Doncaster, Rotherham and of course Bailes of Osset [Mothers Pride].

Whilst I accept the above comments, Premier Foods acquired R.H.M. in March 2007 for £1.2 billion, which did include Harveys Bakery... Premier Foods did " hang on " to a few of the bakeries, and Harveys was one of them...but just like Landers, the brand name disappeared....The bread that is baked at the Cale Lane bakery is Hovis Bread....You cannot buy a Landers, Harveys, or Wonderloaf ( Blanchards ) loaf today. It's a funny old business. Premier Foods was only founded in 1975, and through the four enterprising individuals who started the company, they are now the largest food manufacturers in the U.K. At the 2010 count they employed 17.000 staff.

Having read and enjoyed all the comments and banter with Jim, I have come to the conclusion that the 1950's and 1960's were the easier time for the employees of Landers Bakery...They were the times of plenty, all of which contributed to the bakery's growth... There were plenty of corner shops, plenty of factory canteens, plenty of estate shops, plenty of agents for bread delivery, and plenty of the high street stores who saw the value of stocking bakery products. New business came easy... It was about 1967 that I read that the number of bakeries had reduced from 1200 to less than 900..So as they say the writing was on the wall. So James, I take my hat off to you... Yourself and the rest of the Landers Staff at the Bakery did a remarkable job... A.C.

The history of bread....I don't suppose many people know this, but the history of bread goes back thousands of years. It is believed that the bread we all take for granted today, was found by accident, all those years ago, long before the time of the Pharaohs... In those very early days, the main food of the people was a kind of porridge made from the seeds of the many grasses, Barley, Wheat, and Rye with water added...These were ground on a stone slab untill they became a powder ( this was flour as we know it today.) One day some of the porridge spilled onto the ground outside and into the hot sun, where the yeast fom the air contaminated the porridge and formed a kind of dough. The dough baked in the hot sun and became unlevened bread, much to the delight of the people. It is my guess this was the best accident ever !!

As an original employee of Landers, I can tell you that from the Office Staff,the Management, the Bakers, the Loaders, the Packers, the Van Boys, the Garage Staff and the Sales Staff, There was a Camaraderie amongst them that I only experienced when serving in the Armed Forces...From the time of Percy Lander to the late 1960's this Camaraderie existed.... From 1965 to 1969 salaries nationally had increased by 1/3rd.. Bakery management now had the additional problem of Union pressure for higher wages, from all departments...They now had the problem of, on one hand they had much increased costs, and on the other, they had a decreasing sales problem from the ever increasing Supermarkets, and the ever decreasing loss of the Corner shops and other outlets...Of course something had to be done.....They reduced a top heavy Head Office. They cut the bakery staff as much as they could. They made as many of the retail rounds as they could into agents so they were taken from the work force....It was decided to select bakeries for improvement area wise, amalgamate them with the rounds of the bakeries selected for closure....The bakeries closed were sold off.... Unfortunately all these changes failed...Eventually the small rounds disappeared, the Supermarkets and Multiples came into their own, and bread is delivered by a " trunk-er " to them in large deliveries. There are now fewer bakeries supplying a much larger population, however , the bread consumed per person is much less than in 1964 .