A popular Liverpool bakery has been serving generations of customers in the city for 65 years.
Originally opening in the late 1950s, The Bread Shop Bakery has been a familiar sight on Aigburth Road for decades, welcoming hundreds of loyal customers through its doors. The business was first set up by Len Gordon and operated more as a grocery store in its early years, before adapting to sell bakery items made on site and more.
The family business is now in its third generation of owners after Len's grandson, Alan, took over The Bread Shop Bakery around 15 years ago. As part of the Liverpool ECHO's How It Used To Be series, we spoke to owner Alan Gordon about the last 65 years in business and how life on Aigburth Road has changed around it.
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Alan, originally from Huyton, told the ECHO: "My grandfather opened the shop in 1958 and he worked there for about eight years on and off. My dad, Frank, left school at 16 and he only had the one job.
"He worked here till he was 61, so for 45 years he led the business, which is unheard of nowadays. People come in and call it Gordon's or Frank's or The Bread Shop or The Bakery.
"Years ago you used to put your surname over the door and our was Gordon's, so a lot of the older customers know us as Gordon's. After the industrial ovens were put in, so we could bake on the premises, my dad changed the signs to The Bread shop and then I changed it again because we sell more than bread now."
Alan, 49, said at one time his grandad and grandad's brother had five Gordon's shops across Liverpool. The main one was the Aigburth Road site that still exists today.
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Alan said: "I always remember going in and the fresh bread smells, the cooked meats, the walk-in fridge, that was when I was very small. I always remember as a child going in and getting a nice sandwich - it was just a warm, loving place for me to be able to go see my dad in work."
In the last 65 years, the business has seen Aigburth Road and life in general in the city change around them, from shopping habits to culture itself. Alan said: "It used to be more of a grocery store, there used to be about ten grocery shops along here and people used to go down to their local high street and buy their bread and their fish or their meat.
"Back in those days we were very famous for the ham and the bacon, but as time has gone by with online shopping and supermarkets, people don't really shop as much on the high street for grocery items. My father put industrial ovens in the shop around 35 or 40 years ago and then it changed to become more of a bakery and a go to food shop.
"We still sell the basic grocery items which we have done since 1958 - your fish, your bread, your cornflakes, fairy liquid. If you think of Aigburth Road back in those days there were hardly any cars going past and now it's pretty much like a motorway going outside.
"We opened the shop before there was a man on the moon, before there was Facebook or Instagram. Nowadays we have people who are gluten free, vegan, halal and people now have fridges and freezers at home.
"The high street has dramatically changed. I say this story to the customers quite a bit, but if my grandad was alive now and someone came in and said they'd seen us on Instagram, paid with an Apple watch and ordered a gluten free pie - he’d think you were on another planet."
Being in the city for so long, The Bread Shop Bakery has a loyal customer base, with many generations of the same family passing through its doors. But the business, like many other independents in Liverpool, has also faced challenges along the way.
Alan said: "Some of the customers who shop here have been doing so since it opened and there’s not many now. But there’s quite a few who remember what it was like 60 years ago.
"It's created work for my family, my grandad, my dad and myself. And we’ve also served the community through the generations.
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"Covid was very intense as we worked every day and stayed open to try and keep ourselves and the community going at that time. That was a tough period and at the moment, the electricity price has pretty much trebled and I'm very very worried about the future because I don't know if it's sustainable anymore.
"A lot of our customers don't see anybody else in the day so we’re like a social hub for them and it's also good for us. After Covid, a lot of people are now working from home and we've also noticed a decrease in people getting off the bus outside because they're not commuting to the city centre working from home.
"The whole business is changing dramatically and quickly. But in a time of self service and shopping, we are still a traditional serve over shop."
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Alan said The Bread Shop Bakery has adapted to life and changed through the decades and that his own children now spend time in the shop. Now celebrating its 65th year, Alan hopes the business will be on Aigburth Road in generations to come.
He said: "My son is ten and my daughter is 12 and I would like to be in a position where they could take over the business into the fourth generation if they want to. My son comes into the business quite a bit with me and I think he can learn things like how to give change and speaking to people.
"My grandad said years ago everyone should work in a shop for a year and that would make the world a much better place, because you’d learn to speak to people. Its 65 years now that we’re celebrating and the things that have happened in that time, its absolutely baffling - but hopefully we'll have another 65 years."
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