Category: News

This year has been a bit of a whirlwind.

At the end of last year I moved (again) to something that will be the Tower of Bagel home for the next 18 months. Based in Attercliffe, and part of a sparkling little community of business – sewing , ice cream making, fashion photography and pottery –  in a CADS-managed building.

Having got 5 on my inspection (hooray!) i could steam full ahead and celebrated by breaking out into cinnamon and raisin.

I have often been asked about this variety and it has been some time coming together.

This followed a trial into gluten free bagels. I had struggled for a year to get this right with the first efforts going in the bin before they got to the oven!

With the new varieties have come new customers – New Roots on Glossop Road take a Friday delivery and every day you can get a filled bagel at the Showroom Cinema Cafe

But times are altered; trade’s unfeeling train
Usurp the land and dispossess the swain;
Along the lawn, where scattered hamlet’s rose,
Unwieldy wealth and cumbrous pomp repose

From The Deserted Village by Oliver Goldsmith

Goldsmith was writing after the enclosures, when landowners set about dispossessing rural communities of their livelihood,  setting in train a chain of events that has impoverished so much of rural England since.

Many villages around England and all over Europe, steeped in history and tradition, private family myths and public claims to fame, have suffered the same slow blight. Population drift to cities – caused by the sort of actions by landowners that Goldsmith is referring to – a lack of young people and a consequent lack of investment;  a cycle hard to be broken.

But Youlgrave has fought back and  is far from deserted. 

Not long ago, Youlgreave Village Shop was a butchers and in need of  serious repair. Now, it is a lively trading post in the heart of this beautiful White Peak village. Youlgreave itself has a number of businesses and a thriving village hall, which i know from Klezmer Weekends.

While, The Action with Communities in Rural England put a lot of emphasis on Village Halls and have done some great work with Village Hall Networks, a shop can act as a second hall – for meetings – there is a mum and baby group – chat and networking.

When meeting Lisa to discuss how we can work together to make our businesses more successful, it was with awe at her bravery but maybe a bit of a raised eyebrow at the amount of work and financial investment the new look shop represents. How much air has she in her lungs to resuscitate the shop? Well, it turns out she has loads!

She told me how they bought the shop in October 2016 and its tumbledown state, the work commenced on December 5th last year and they opened in June 2017. A tight timescale by any standards. And they now have a space that teams with wonderful local quality products on the shelves (a really god flour range from Caldwells Mill, by the way, for you bakers out there) , a welcome cafe for walkers and cyclists and locals, and , as Lisa points out, a place for sustaining community. And of course, let’s not forget, they also have bagels.

So, Sheffield and Chesterfield cyclists and walkers, make sure you stop by if you are having a day out in the White Peak.

Since my last post:

…we have been Trump-ed, and alt-righted – all of whom ought to be behind bars with Jo Cox’s murderer – and further Brexited, proponents of whom probably do not deserve that same sweeping statement. (or maybe they do?).

I mention this because having a handle on the real world is more important than the next Bagel.

On the other hand , i can only control the next Bagel so what’s happening?

Well, delicious things like the offering from cafe#9 is what has been happening. They have been getting a delivery on Mondays of freshly baked bagels and doing wonderful things inside them, like this butternut squash and spinach filled bagel.

You can follow then on twitter also.

Next Monday they are getting another batch of sundried tomato and rosemary bagels. Check it out.

If you are a cafe and check out our wholesale services

A while ago I announced that i would be looking to raise the cost of one scholarship for a Palestinian Woman to got University within the first year.

So far, we are half way there. Thank you everyone who has helped.

Small things from you:

• every time you say keep the change, the money goes in the pot
• every time you buy a lovely card painted by local artist Maggie Norman, £1 goes in the pot
• at least 20% of profit from the cafe – so keep coming by to get your Monday lunch!