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7
Underground Bakehouses.
In accordance with the requirements of the Factories Act, 1937, an inspection of
underground bakehouses must be carried out every five years. Such an inspection was carried
out during 1950.
Section 54 of the Act provides that a basement bakehouse shall not be used unless it
was so used at the date of the passing of the Act, 1st July, 1938, and a Certificate of Suitability
has been issued by the Borough Council.
Together with the appropriate members of the staff I visited every underground bakehouse
in the borough and submitted a report to the Council through its Public Health Committee.
There are in the borough 26 underground bakehouses. All of them are long established
and were probably erected many years ago. They are usually entered by means of a steep
staircase from street level and are enclosed by high walls preventing the free circulation of
air. Fresh air is often drawn into these bakehouses by means of openings at pavement level,
allowing dirt and dust to enter from the street. Lighting is largely artificial and not always
very good, corners and sides of shelves being badly lighted. During the war a number of
underground bakehouses discontinued business altogether, and within the last five years, four
occupiers of bakehouses have removed or ceased to bake.
A large proportion of underground bakehouses in the borough are family businesses,
the occupier of the bakehouse living above and managing the bakehouse himself with the
assistance of members of his family. In my report I paid tribute to many of these occupiers
for the standard of hygiene they have attained. Giving full consideration to all the
circumstances it was as high as could be expected in the majority of cases, and I felt certain
that had these family bakehouses been established in modern premises, properly constructed
at ground floor level, they would have been so conducted as to be an example and a pride
to the trade of baker.
Before a Certificate of Suitability is granted the Council must be satisfied as to construction,
including height, light, ventilation and other hygienic aspects of the premises with relation
to the business of baking itself and the health of the persons employed therein.
It is a serious matter for a baker to be refused a Certificate of Suitability for it may.
mean difficulty or even impossibility of continuing his trade. The occupier of the bakehouse
has the right to appear before the Council and state his case, and he also has a right of appeal
to a Court of summary jurisdiction.
To assist the Public Health Committee in its deliberations, the advice of the St. Pancras
Association of the London Master Bakers, Confectioners and Caterers was sought. At every
one of the meetings we held to consider individual bakehouses representatives of this Association
were present, and every decision that was made was endorsed by, in fact was made in
conjunction with, these representatives. It is a fact that the Master Bakers thanked the
Council for their sympathetic understanding of the problem, but I know that the Council will
agree that it is indebted to the Master Bakers for their help. In no case was an appeal
made to the Court, which would suggest that the bakers themselves were satisfied that our
decisions were equitable, sympathetic and wise.
The following decisions were made:—
A Certificate of Suitability was granted for five years in two cases without
qualification.
In two cases a Certificate of Suitability was granted but it was understood
that at the end of five years the bakehouse was to be closed.
In one case a Certificate of Suitability was given for five years subject to the
use of the premises remaining as at present.