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(4) An underground bakehouse shall not be certified as suitable unless the District
Council is satisfied that it is suitable as regards construction, light, ventilation, and in
all other respects.
(5) This section shall have effect as if it were included among the provisions relating
to bakehouses which are referred to in section twenty-six of the Public Health
(London) Act, 1891.
(6) If any place is used in contravention of this section it shall be deemed to be a
workshop not kept in conformity with this Act.
(7) In the event of the refusal of a certificate by the District Council, the occupier
of the bakehouse may within twenty-one days from the refusal, by complaint apply to
a Court of Summary Jurisdiction, and if ft appears to the satisfaction of the Court
that the bakehouse is suitable for use as regards construction, light, ventilation, and in
all other respects, the Court shall thereupon grant a certificate of suitability of the
bakehouse, which shall have effect as if granted by the District Council.
(8) Where any place has been let as a bakehouse, and the certificate required by
this section cannot be obtained unless structural alterations are made, and the occupier
alleges that the whole or part of the expenses of the alterations ought to be borne
by the owner, he may by complaint apply to a Court of Summary Jurisdiction, and
that Court may make such order concerning the expenses or their apportionment as
appears to the Court to be just and equitable under the circumstances of the case,
regard being had to the terms of any contract between the parties, or in the alternative
the Court may, at the request of the occupier, determine the lease.
102.—As respects every retail bakehouse, the provisions of this part of this Act
shall be enforced by the District Council of the district in which the retail bakehouse
is situate, and not by an inspector; and for the purposes of this section the Medical
Officer of Health of the District Council shall have and may exercise all the powers of
entry, inspection, taking legal proceedings, and otherwise, of an inspector.
In this section the expression ' retail bakehouse' means any bakehouse or place,
not being a factory, the bread, biscuits, or confectionery baked in which are sold, not
wholesale, but by retail, in some shop or place occupied with the bakehouse.
We have specially addressed ourselves to considering as to how far the bakehouses
in the Borough are, or can be made, ' suitable as regards construction, light, ventilation,
and in all other respects'
In order to ascertain the character of the several premises, we requested the occupiers
to furnish us with ' a neatly drawn plan and section of the premises to a scale of a
quarter of an inch to the foot' and showing—
1. Position of the bakehouse and all rooms and passages in the basement of the
premises (whether or not used in connection therewith), including the flour store, coal
cellar, vaults, areas, etc., and the means of communication between the several rooms,
etc.; also the dimensions of the yard or garden (if any). Figured dimensions to be
marked on the plan.
2. Drainage.—All drain-inlets on the basement level, inspection chambers and
the position of the lavatory, water-closet and urinal.
The section, it was stated, should show—
The height of each baking room and other basement premises; the means of
access to the bakehouse from the shop and otherwise; the height of the ceiling above,
or (as the case may be) the depth thereof below, the footway of the adjoining street, or
of the ground adjoining or nearest to each baking room; and the means of lighting
and ventilation.
We are glad to state that in response to this request we have received plans of 89 out
of the 95 premises in the Borough, and of these only six plans have failed to give the
requisite information.
The Medical Officer of Health has submitted to us reports on the several underground
bakehouses prepared by the Sanitary Inspectors, and we have up to the present
personally inspected 20 bakehouses, which we are informed may be considered fair specimens
of the whole, and examples of the conditions usually found.
After consideration of these reports, and as a result of our investigations, we are
able to report upon the various points as follows : —
Construction.
With few exceptions the underground bakehouses were not constructed for the purpose,
but consist of basement rooms adapted, the oven or ovens being generally built under
the pavement of the adjoining street.