Gibbons Bakery
"THE BEST BREAD IN OXFORD"

The Friends of Gibbons Bakery

Contacts and Press Releases

Contacts

If you can't reach any of the above numbers,
please telephone the FoGB press office: 01865 724360

Press Releases

Press Release No. 1 - Embargo: 00.01 Thursday 3^rd December

 LOCALS RALLY TO BOOST THEIR BAKERY

Residents of East Oxford are organising a massive drive to promote the city's only remaining traditional, independent bakery. This weekend (5th & 6th December), they will be delivering nearly 2,000 leaflets, reminding local people that "The best bread in Oxford is just around the corner".

Gibbons Bakery, at 16 Hertford Street, has been run by Roy Gibbons's family for at least four generations. With his wife Dianne, he has maintained a standard of baking virtually unrivalled anywhere in Britain. On a visit to East Oxford, Derek Cooper, presenter of Radio 4's award-winning The Food Programme, commented that Gibbons's bread was some of the best he had ever tasted.

The bakery is also one of the focal points of the East Oxford community. Roy and Diane organise raffles and collections for a host of local charities and let the pupils of St Mary and John's School, which is just across the road, sell their crafts there to raise school funds. The bakery is where hundreds of East Oxford people meet up, exchange news and views, and hear about anyone who might need help.

Local resident Liz Hodgson commented: "Gibbons Bakery has put so much into the community. Now it's time we gave something back. Since the independent bakery on Osney Island closed down a month ago, Gibbons is the last of the old breed. We are determined not to let the superstores destroy a pillar of our community."

Notes for journalists:

1. The Friends of Gibbons Bakery was set up after the bakery almost closed down earlier this year when the boiler failed. Residents, horrified at the prospect of losing their bakery, scoured local services to find someone who knew how to repair the old machine. The story of their success was widely reported in the local media. It was a timely reminder of how valuable to the community the bakery is.
2. As reported on last week's Panorama, superstores are wiping out local shops nationwide at a phenomenal rate, largely through what the programme described as "uncompetitive practices". Nearly all the small shops that give East Oxford so much character and such a sense of community have suffered since large superstores opened nearby, not because the superstores and DIY sheds are better value, but because they create the illusion of cheapness by promoting "loss leaders".
3. At the end of World War II, there were 40 bakeries between The Plain and Between Towns Road. Gibbons is the only one to survive. But, far from being a doomed enterprise, it has, as students of Oxford Brookes discovered when they conducted a feasibility study, the potential to survive and prosper long into the next millennium.

The Friends of Gibbons Bakery

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