Simmons - Baking since 1838

It’s 1838. Young Queen Victoria has been on the throne for a year. A new novel by up-and-coming author Charles Dickens has just been published, titled ‘Oliver Twist’. In Hertfordshire, all the talk is about the new London to Birmingham railway, and the very fine bread being baked by Eliza Simmons in the hamlet of Roe Green, just outside Hatfield.

Eliza’s baking know-how was passed on through the generations. More bakeries followed, and her descendants kept the business – and the name for expertly-prepared, oven-fresh products – going strong through the 20^th century.

Family members still run the business from Simmons’ Hatfield bakery, making sure our bread’s as fresh today as it was when great great great aunt Eliza was turning it out of the tin.

We’re devoted to getting our products just right. We never stop striving for the perfect jam doughnut or the quintessential crusty roll.

Baking is still a labour of love for us rather than just our bread and butter. And today, with generations of know-how behind us, we’re prouder than ever of the products that leave our ovens.

We’ve learnt what makes a difference: making sure everything in our shops is as fresh as it can be, for example; using genuine French flour and Belgian butter in our croissants; and making the crustiest rolls possible with a blend of two different flours.

As well as the classics, and there are our own creations, crafted by our product development team of bakers and chefs. There’s always a new cake or gateau that needs testing. And the rest of us are always keen to assist.

Our bakery in Hatfield has been the centre of our operations for 80 years, and it’s seen the town grow up around it.

Ovens and machinery have been continuously modernised, and heaven knows how many loaves of bread have left through its doors. It’s employed thousands of people from the local area. It’s where we want to be. That’s why we won’t expand our stores further afield: more than 25 miles away, we couldn’t deliver such fresh products.

Keeping our shops supplied is a 24/7 operation. Whether it’s the dough-makers starting their shift in the evening or the team icing doughnuts in the morning, there’s always a buzz of activity. And it reaches its peak at 4am, when we’re loading up our vans with bread straight from the ovens, making sure our shops and wholesale customers receive them still warm.

We’re a family business. And we have space for everyone at Simmons, from school and college students working afternoons or at the weekends, through to graduates looking to start a career, mums looking for part-time work, and our most loyal, long-serving employees in the shops and bakery.

Several of our most senior staff joined us as 16-year-olds, just out of school, and have worked their way up. There are even members of the same family – and not just the Simmons clan.

We rely on every one of them. They all play a part, from the dough-makers working their night-shift to the van drivers delivering to the shops before dawn, and of course all the staff serving with a smile in our shops.