When the bakers at Pophams arrived at their London Fields site on the morning of April 20 this year, they found the doors locked. The bakery and production facility, which serves its two other outposts in Islington and Victoria Park, had lost access to the site amid a dispute with its landlord, and wouldn’t regain it for almost four months.
Now, as of Monday, August 10, it's back open following a court hearing on August 3, which saw the bakery regain its lease and receive the keys to the site the following day.
Looking back at the last few months, founder Ollie Gold says it’s thanks to an extraordinary network of customers, neighbouring businesses, suppliers and staff that Pophams was able to keep running its other two sites as well as the emergency arch, albeit at a reduced capacity.
In the first few days after the lockout, nearby bakery The Snapery allowed the Pophams team to bake there. “They gave us their bakery overnight,” Gold says. “We baked there for three or four days.”
Beloved Dalston bakery The Dusty Knuckle also offered equipment and space, while its London Fields neighbour Lardo allowed the team to use its kitchen at certain times of day. Pophams began adapting what it could produce, adding things such as cookies and banana bread while its usual pastry operation was on pause.
And the offers just kept coming. “There were hundreds of people offering support,” Gold says. “We had customers from around the corner who were like, ‘Come and use my kitchen any time you want. It’s all yours.’” Some would even send him photographs of their domestic ovens. “I was like, thank you so much, but you don’t know what we would do to that kitchen.”
One customer paid in advance for 10 bacon and maple pastries. “We had people pay forward for stuff that they wouldn’t know they’d get for a few weeks,” Gold says. Others offered to help with deliveries or provide legal and financial expertise.
Larger hospitality businesses stepped in, too. Gold says Gail’s offered Pophams access to production facilities and a Hackney Central site, while Ottolenghi offered the use of its production unit. Coffee roaster Assembly supplied a machine within a day so the team could turn a small shop beside the London Fields bakery into a temporary coffee shop.
As the dispute rolled on, it became clear that Pophams needed something more permanent. After nearly a month, the team began putting together a temporary production facility in a railway arch. Bakery equipment suppliers provided expensive machinery at little or no cost to help get the operation running. “Our bakery suppliers were pretty much giving us free, on-loan kit that was worth £10,000, £15,000,” Gold says. “They just wanted to get us going again.”
One builder who worked on the temporary site refused payment altogether. “I asked him to send an invoice at the end and he was like, ‘No, no, whenever you’re back and running, just send me a bunch of bread,’” says Gold.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Pophams staff were powering through despite being sent between unfamiliar kitchens at different times of day and working with different equipment. “It was a really hard place to work,” Gold says. The team’s response, though, was awe-inspiring. “Just the agility and everything they did, and willingness to really keep going for us as much as possible. Those first four, six weeks especially were really rough.”
Residents in the London Fields building contacted the mayor’s office about the situation, which led to a meeting between Gold and the mayor of Hackney. And online, messages from customers became a regular morale boost. “The level of comments from supporters on Instagram wishing you all the luck and saying they can’t wait until you’re back, has been amazing,” he says. “It was great for me and my business partner Lucy – and for the rest of the team – to know that all the work they’ve put in is being seen.”
For Gold, the whole experience has made him more passionate than ever. “It put into perspective that there is more to running a business and a bakery than just customers, products, revenue,” he says. “We’re people. We’re communities. That feeling of helping each other out is so, so powerful.”
When Gold got the keys back on Tuesday, August 4, it was an exciting moment for him and the entire team. “It was a huge lift,” says Gold. “People were running around the site... We needed this. I cannot wait to see all the customers that have supported us.”
Pophams London Fields is now open at 197 Richmond Rd, E8 3NJ.
