Bakery to open shop to trade on name

A HENLEY bakery and wholesale bread supplier is to open a shop.

Lawlor’s, which is based at Henley Enterprise Park, off Greys Road, is to take over the former Henley on Toast cafe in Bell Street, which was run by the Henley Larder delicatessen.

The bakery which has been in Henley since 1956, currently supplies bread to a number of local cafés, restaurants and shops but has not had its own shop in town since 2006.

Bakery manager John Swift, 43, who runs Lawlor’s with owner Andy Byerley, said they hoped to open the shop next month.

He said: “We are currently picking colours and trying to sort out the furniture. It’s all about keeping the name alive and the bakery going. For me, it’s about re-engaging with the customer base. I am still trying to meet all the old Lawlor’s customers.”

Mr Swift is a fifth-genera tion craft baker who joined the business last year.

He said: “We have a lot of people who have eaten Lawlor’s bread. If you have been to the Hart Street Tavern, Berries or Spoon you have probably eaten Lawlor’s bread and not known it.

“This will reaffirm what Henley has to offer, a good craft bakery, and it will pick up on people’s memories of the Lawlor’s of yesteryear.

“Customers can come in and tell us what they want us to bring back and what Lawlor’s meant to them.”

The bakery, which was previously run by Mike Lawlor, son of founder John Lawlor, and Anne Baker, used to have a retail shop in Reading Road before opening a second one in Duke Street which later moved to the market place.

After closing during the coronavirus pandemic, the bakery was bought by the late David Rodger-Sharp in 2021.

The jeweller refurbished the premises and opened a Lawlor’s cafe in Duke Street in March 2021, which closed in November 2022.

Mr Swift said he didn’t want the shop to “step on toes” and it would stock classic baked goods.

He said: “It’s going to be a quintessential Sixties and Seventies shop selling bread and cakes. You can rock up and you can buy your French baguette, freshly baked doughnuts and egg custards.

“We will have the more modern stuff as well and hopefully will be making things like cruffins.”

Mr Swift said he had been surprised by the reaction to the traditional lardy cake the bakery has started producing again.

“For such a simple item, there is a lot of love for it,” he said. “You wouldn’t expect a small thing like lardy cake to have such a devoted following but people remember the original Lawlor’s lardy cake from nearly 70 years ago. It obviously meant something.”

Last week, the Henley Larder moved from Bell Street into eco shop, FourState in Duke Street.

The delicatessen and grocery run by Zoe Ferreira has taken over the FourState café after closing Henley on Toast.