Breadman Walking, a community-focused “nano-bakery” that sold dozens of loaves during a three-hour weekend window, is to turn off its ovens following a local authority planning investigation.
Proprietor Gerry Godley, whose sourdough, focaccia and pastries had kept residents of Dublin 8 fed for the past 2½ years, said he may have been naive about his lack of planning but would adhere to the recent Dublin City Council enforcement action.
Earlier this summer the bakery was told that, on foot of a complaint, it was to undergo a planning inspection. Confirmation of the unauthorised development – essentially selling bread from his home – followed.
“I’m closing because I want to be compliant. I have no wish to be contravening planning regulations,” Mr Godley said. “I really don’t want to incur the fine and I certainly don’t want to be incarcerated for six months just for selling a few loaves of bread.”
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Although Mr Godley is under no illusions as to the legal reality of his modest bakery, he believes it raises important questions about how small businesses operate, particularly in a world that has shifted quickly toward a work-from-home model.
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Announcing its decision on Instagram, Breadman Walking noted the positive social, community and environmental effects of small sustainable businesses run from home, and queried how relevant current planning law was to a changing world.
“I use the term business model very advisedly. This was as much a kind of community, social experiment as much as anything else,” Mr Godley said. “And it was informed by a model we see all across the world; what people refer to as micro-bakeries or community bakeries.”
Under its zero-waste ethic, Breadman Walking customers pre-ordered and collected their food once a week – Mr Godley estimates he made about 100 loaves in each such cycle. His relatively small home kitchen was fitted out with a commercial Belgian oven.
The very-local approach – through which he offered up four varieties of sourdough, focaccia, sausage rolls and cinnamon buns among other baked favourites – created a local business template where “friends became customers and customers became friends”.
“I would love to see planners very actively involved in what happens around food in communities,” he said of the broader system, noting in particular the phenomenon of “food swamps”, or high density clusters of fast and unhealthy food outlets.
“From a planning point of view, who thought that was a good idea? From a dietary point of view or from a nutritional point of view ... I would love to see a really proactive approach from planners in that regard.
“It’s just sort of ironic that I felt my initiative was – absolutely I was trying to make a living – but it was also trying to be a sort of force for nutritional good, if you like, within this part of the city. But irrespective of that I have fallen foul of the law such as it is.”
Dublin City Council has been asked for comment.
Mr Godley, a musician turned baker, nodded toward some future for his produce, or the “next evolution of Breadman Walking”, on his Instagram page. But for now he will finish service on September 14th.
“I think [afterwards] I might just try to perfect making baguettes because that’s proved very elusive.”
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