Homebaked: On the Rise

Think art can’t alter the world around us? Go tell it to Anfied. The team behind the excellent Homebaked project - one of our Biennial hot picks - is determined not to let the community initiative championed by artist Jeanne van Heeswjik, the local community and the Biennial turn stale.

With your help (via their recently launched Kickstarter fund) the old Mitchells bakery - the cornerstone of the local community for a century - will be fired into life once more.

The Homebaked team was featured on BBC1′s The One Show on Friday, and the campaign has already got to nearly £4,000 aiming to reach a target of £13,000 - with support from food critic Jay Rayner (which is more than can be said of his visit to the London Carriage Works. Seems he feels the same about black tiles as plates as we do.)

“For 100 years Mitchells was a busy bakery at the heart of a community. I used to buy cakes here on the way home from school. Its closure has left a great hole on what’s left of our high street,” says Jessica Doyle, Homebaked co-founder.

“This area has been stuck in regeneration politics for too long, with entire boarded up streets just waiting for demolition. The Mitchells stuck it out for as long as they could, but a couple of years ago the bakery closed down,” Jessica explains.

“We’ve been waiting for a long time for things to change. And we’re not waiting any more…”

The Homebaked crew have set up a Co-operative and community land trust, with ambitious plans to re-open the bakery, with flats above.

There’ll be a shop front with cafe, a pie-hole for match days, and a training kitchen providing training to prove the bakers of the future.

“Things are changing around here,” Jessica says.”People are moving into mew houses. And match days are like a carnival. This bakery could be a vital hub for the community. But at the heart of the project is an oven. And, at the moment, there’s just a big empty space.”

And that’s where we come in. SevenStreets has just donated to their Kickstarter campaign. They’ve around £9,000 left to raise.

Odd, isn’t it - the inequity of our inner cities. £9,000 - that’s probably, what, a day’s wage for Gerrard? Talk about give us this day, our daily bread. Anyway, don’t get us started on that.

Homebaked Kickstarter: Donate here.

For more information on the project, click here.