Earlier, I described the history of the building which housed our family bakery in Chapelfields. In this section, I would like to explore the background of my family who worked in it.
Alfred Hugh Pails was born at 43 Thomas Street, 6th May 1900. He also became a Master Baker and was apprenticed to his father on June 1st 1914. He was enrolled on the Freeman’s Register 26th June 1914. To become a Freeman of the City was an honour, gained by serving a Master tradesman in the City for at least five years. This custom is peculiar to the City of Coventry.
As a matter of interest a Freeman of the City of Coventry, according to an old Act of Parliament, had by custom rights of pasturage over the common fields of Coventry (e.g .Hearsall, Whitley, and Gosford Green).
Every Freeman was entitled to a right of common pasture for one horse and two cows over the Lammas lands from Lammas to Candlemas, and Michaelmas lands from Michaelmas to Candlemas every year. In later years these Freeman’s rights were extinguished.
A new baker
On the death of his father in 1939 Alf, as he was known, inherited the business. He worked hard and built up the business so that eventually he had three horse drawn vans and five motor vans delivering house to house in the City. The first motor van was purchased in 1928, it was a Trojan. Deliveries covered most of the south side of the city, delivering to Chapelfields, Earlsdon, Tile Hill, Broad Lane, Canley, Eastern Green, Allesley, Coundon, Radford, Brownshill Green, Styvechale, Green Lane, and Cheylesmore.
When the horse drawn vans were used, it was well known that the horse knew the round as well as the delivery man. The horse would move on to the next call while the driver was serving a customer. One driver was known to call at the ‘local’ for his lunch break. When he was away on holiday and someone else did the round, the horse refused to go by the pub without stopping in the forecourt! Many a driver was told off about his horse nipping off the heads of tulips from front gardens while he was delivering along the road. Local gardeners would gather outside the stables on Sunday mornings to collect the horse manure for their gardens. This was an extra income for the driver of the horse van as the few coppers they received paid for their beer money. For many years some of the horses were stabled at the bottom of the vicar’s garden behind St Mary Magdalen Church1. The story goes that one of the horses got out of the stable into the vicarage garden and badly damaged the lawn!
The bakeries and the blitz
The 14th November 1940 was a significant date in the history of Coventry. The city suffered a 12 hour blitz from seven o’clock in the evening until seven the next morning when the ‘all clear’ siren sounded. All the bakeries were put out of production. There were no supplies of gas or electricity and the water was contaminated. A convoy of two cars and seven motor vans was organised by Philip Sutton of the Crown Bakery, Maudslay Road, to go to Birmingham where they collected 4,500 loaves for the people of Coventry.
The third generation, another Alfred Hugh was born 25th May 1930. He too was to become a Master Baker and Confectioner. When he was 14 he was apprenticed to his father on 20th November 1947, and was enrolled as a Freeman of the City2. On finishing his apprenticeship Hugh as he was known, became a partner in the business.
In the 1950s factories began to offer better wages than could be offered in the food trade and it became more difficult to obtain staff. If a driver didn’t turn up, Hugh or his Dad would have to do the bread round after they had finished baking, sometimes delivering into the evening. Hugh said he could remember going out late one Christmas Eve because they hadn’t baked enough bread. Families in those days used to have several loaves a delivery as bread was a staple part of the diet then.
In the early days the bakery only produced bread. During the war a limited amount of cakes were produced due to food rationing. Gradually trade was built up producing a wide variety of cakes to our own recipes. In later years fresh cream cakes were one of the specialities.
In the next section, I shall complete the story of the Pails bakery and its history.
1 The church with the blue roof at the junction of Hearsall Lane and Sir Thomas Whites Road.
2 13th February 1948.
Comments
My Grandfather was Arthur Carvell, he trained with Pails around 1900 and when Pails moved to Craven Street in 1909 he took over the 43 Thomas Street site, which he ran until the outbreak of war when he joined the Army Service Corps and became a baker on the Western Front. When he returned at the end of the war he pledged never to bake another loaf of bread in his life and became a milkman instead!
My husband’s grandfather hand painted and decorated the vans for one of the big bakeries in Coventry in the 1960s (this was after he had retired). I don’t know if it was just run of the mill or for a special occasion as he had been known to decorate floats for the Godiva Festival for the engineering company he worked for prior to his retirement. He lived in the Canley area.
In the early 1960s my parents, Jim & Tina, were the licensees of the Hearsall Inn in Craven Street. I attended All Souls Primary School, Abercorn Road and every morning would walk to school passing Pails Bakery. Pails would sell all of yesterdays unsold individual buns and cakes for 1d each to us schoolkids and we would wait outside until the gate was opened. Now, nearly 60 years later and in Queensland, Australia I still think of Pails Bakery whenever I see a sugar coated chelsea bun and remember how I was introduced to them for 1 penny by Pails Bakery. Wonderful times and wonderful cakes.
Doris and Hugh Pails gave my husband and I invaluable advice and encouragement when we started up as Stoke Bakery in 1972. they encouraged me to sell previous days buns for a 1d at our shop on Ansty Road to kids on the way to school. My eldest son worked at Austin Rover and regularly fetched filled rolls and cakes for the office.
My uncle, Peter Willis, talks about his dad, George Henry Willis, who was the ostler for Crown bakeries in Earlsdon. Crown bakeries shared the stabling with Pails at the back of St Mary Magdalen Church. Peter’s mum was a Sutton and related to Philip Sutton.
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