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79
The Factories Act, 1937, deals with "basement" bakehouses (as they are now termed) in
Section 54. This section defines a basement bakehouse as "a bakehouse any baking-room of which
is so situate that the surface of the floor is more than three feet below the surface of the footway of the
adjoining street, or the ground adjoining or nearest the room," and requires that:—
1. No basement bakehouse shall be established anew ;
2. No basement bakehouse may be used as such unless certified by the local authority under
the 1901 Act;
3. If the use of a basement bakehouse is discontinued for a period exceeding twelve months,
it must not be so used again ;
4. Every local authority shall examine all basement bakehouses between 1st July, 1938, and
30th June, 1939, and in every fifth succeeding year. After the first examination the
local authority shall either:—
(a) Certify the bakehouse as suitable for continued use, without prejudice to the local
authority's power to revoke the certificate as the result of further quinquennial
examinations, or
(b) Give at least one month's notice of closure of the bakehouse. Power of appeal to a
Court of Summary Jurisdiction against closure is given to the occupier.
These requirements seem to differ from those contained in the 1901 Act in that no works are
envisaged in order to bring the bakehouse into conformity with modern standards. The local
authority must, therefore, close or re-certify a bakehouse according to its suitability, at the present
time, as regards "construction, height, light, ventilation and any hygienic respect."
The provisions relating to underground bakehouses become operative on 1st July, 1939. An
examination of all basement bakehouses in the borough has been carried out, a report submitted to
the Public Health Committee and adopted by the Council. The effect of these decisions will be detailed
in my next Annual Report.