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WHAT A YEAR! 

If you've taken the time out to read this, there's a fair chance you'll know that we are at a historic moment for the Bakery.

It is a calm moment sitting here writing this, I feel focussed and optimistic. I rediscovered a couple of kinda negative ‘draft post musings’ sitting in my inbox since I last posted in 2016 that never saw the light of day and never will.

It's cathartic for me to take this moment to look back, acknowledge the last few years, then crack on.

This week we'll finally be letting you know what we have in store for you this summer at Pettigrew Bakeries, so keep an eye out on @pettigrewbakes

Where are we now?

We have earned your trust, loyalty and respect as a fiercely independent family run business in the ‘burbs of the Cardiff community. We are a humble bunch, working our butts off for consistency & advancement, to be the best we can be and maybe even inspire others. To you who champion us, thank you. We put everything into the Bakery, hearing your stories and seeing your joy keeps us motivated and hungry for success.

Acknowledgements...

There are too many people to list individually so I won't do that, but a massive THANK YOU to team Pettigrew Bakeries & Tea Rooms past and present. You know who you are because you're either still with us (several of you for 7+ years), or you know the Pettigrew revolving door is always open to you :o). You like minded workaholics put your soul into making ideas come to life.

Surviving the past 5 years, and getting to the point we are at today, would not have happened without Rhys. To save him embarrassment I'll keep it short. Rhys carried the Bakery production in those early years as we learnt together (usually the hard way) with a ton of trial and error and within the confines of trading 7 days a week (under a mountain of debt). I got stuck back into baking at this time in a way that (naively) I thought I wouldn't be doing. Spending hours, then years, baking together and bringing on a team of self-taught bakers.

It turns out that doing this from scratch creates the strongest foundation to whether even a global pandemic!

A few years back Rhys started working on his own Bakery project and took the plunge over the summer last year to go all in on Carrot Top Bakery. Do yourself a favour and give him a follow @carrottopbakery, find him at weekly farmers markets, and various cafes/venues that proudly serve uncompromising hand-crafted baking. This guy is the real deal & does not, cannot & will not compromise.

Rhys is a friend and a huge inspiration to me, thanks Rhys for everything you poured into helping build up Pettigrews.

Family 

Quick thanks go to our families for unwavering love and support, including investing to make our dreams a reality! We lost our dad Steve earlier this year, but we know how proud he was of his sons and all his family, we could not have opened without his support.

I’m so proud to see how many people's lives have been touched by Pettigrew. One of those absolutely smashing it right now is Gareth who is proudly living his dream next door to us at Let Them See Cake @letthemseecake. Gareth & Ryan put everything into their vision and seeing it alive and kicking, and our neighbours, is awesome.

Thank you to our amazing wholesale pals, who over the years have fiercely supported us and championed our produce. It is really tough to say goodbye for now and not see what you do with our products in your own artistry. It is a travesty how little wholesale choice there is for real bread made in Cardiff. One day we will be back in the market I hope.

Cardiff Bakers/Bakeries

The emerging Real Bread baking scene of Cardiff is such a joy to see! From my experience Bakers are good people who get a kick out of making other people happy. You just won’t hear a bad word uttered about our competitors in the City. There is room for all of us and we are all different & champion each others learning and success. Basically if you hear someone chatting crap, running one of us down it'll always tell you way more about them.

“If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it.

A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”

― Roald Dahl, The Twits

The current team of Bakery heroes make me proud every day; every baker, every server, everyone supporting us behind the scenes. It is such a privilege working with you all. We are building such a cool unique business together and the next chapter is going to be even more exciting.

Thanks for taking a minute to read this, to understand what we are grateful for, and indulging us as we put the past 5 years to bed and reinvent Pettigrew Bakeries for the years to come.

See you soon

David & Lee - June 2021

Tea Room Launch Date Confirmed

It brings me enormous pleasure to announce that Pettigrew Tea Rooms will officially open to the public on Friday 30th March 2012.

http://pettigrew-tearooms.co.uk

Needless to say, there is still a lot to do and I am working hard to finally bring my plans to fruition. Here is a sneak peek at the interior...

See you soon and spread the word!

Pettigrew Tea Rooms, West Lodge, Bute Park and Arboretum, Cardiff CF10 1BJ

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A Tea Room is Brewing

Introducing '_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Tea Rooms'

Bute Park is in amazing hands

You may say that I am biased as I am soon to directly benefit from the restoration of this stunning historic park land with the chance to turn my dream into a living reality. I hope that if you have gleaned anything from this blog it is that I am honest and open.

I have found all those connected with Bute Park, both working there daily and assisting in the careful and considered restoration, to be professional, passionate, intelligent, considered, leaders and doers. You will not find people more concerned with the welfare of the park itself, for the benefit of the users now and for those of the future. This is not some faceless bureaucracy, but a live and exciting family who have gone over and above their work remit donating hours upon hours of their own time to breathe life into community projects they help create and believe in.

If you have been to the Park recently hopefully you will have experienced this yourself too, if not Spring is a perfect time to visit and you should definitely go and see the new Education Centre!

I turned to this family for inspiration for a name to bestow on this new use for an historic building opening its doors for the first time to the public. My own ideas along with those from the custodians of the Park have been at the forefront of my mind for weeks.

Giving Birth

I have heard that deciding a name for your child can be difficult.
Do you wait until after the birth, look at your child, live with it, try and understand its personality?
Do you even know someone who was born without a name?

I believe that the greatest compliment for naming may be to inherit a family name or to bestow a title upon the next generation that has great personal resonance. With this in mind a wonderful name soon came to mind along with a superb opportunity to inform and educate today's park visitors about its history.

The Pettigrew Family

Many people know the Title of 'Marquess of Bute' and many people know the famous architect of Cardiff Castle, William Burges, but arguably less popularly well known for his contribution to Bute Park is Mr Andrew Pettigrew.

Andrew Pettigrew and his three sons William Wallace (‘WW'), Hugh and Andrew Alexander (‘AA') all contributed to a legacy of public owned gardens and parkland in Cardiff that is second to none in the UK.

Andrew Pettigrew (1833-1903) was Head Gardener to the Marquess of Bute at Cardiff Castle between 1873 and 1903. Originally from Ayrshire, he and his family moved to Cardiff from Dumfries House in Ayr, another Bute property, to work with the Third Marquess of Bute and William Burges on the layout of the Castle Grounds at Cardiff (re-named Bute Park in 1947 when it was gifted to the city along with the Castle and Sophia Gardens by the fifth Marquess of Bute).

The Marquess, who also came from Scotland, made all his money by sending coal and iron from the South Wales Valleys all around the world. What we now know as Cardiff was then a collection of small villages before the Marquess created a busy port, where hundreds of ships sailed every day. Cardiff became the largest coal exporting port in the world.

Many people came to live in Cardiff and it soon became a large city, but many of them lived in crowded houses with poor facilities and no gardens or space to relax and play in. The city needed parks and gardens.

So the Marquess and other Cardiff landowners gave land to the people of the city, so that they could have pleasant places to walk, to sit and listen to bands playing, to play or to watch sport such as bowls and cricket.

Introducing 'Pettigrew Tea Rooms'

In homage to his superb work in developing Bute Park into the recognisable space that thousands of visitors enjoy today, I feel it is appropriate to commemorate Mr Andrew Pettigrew's work by naming this business 'Pettigrew Tea Rooms'. I am passionate about sharing the history of this man, his family and the lasting legacy of their work with new and future generations visiting Bute Park and Arboretum.

Now for your say...

I have maintained from the start of this project that you would be involved. I value your thoughts and opinions. So now I turn over to you lovely people one of the biggest decisions I face. This is a traditional Tea Rooms and the Logo will be in pride of place on the menus, website and throughout. Please make your choice wisely.

Option a.)

Option B.)

Option C.)

Place Your Vote...

Public OpinionPoll Results

P.s. constructive criticism is great and always welcome, but if you don't have anything nice to say, then come and sit next to me.

Pettigrew Tea Rooms - Bi-Lingual Website Under Construction Coming Soon

Thank you. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates and maybe maybe maybe a competition some time soon...

David