Aroundtown MEETS
Bread and
Barnsley Born
For over 65 years, the family-run
Fosters Bakery has been a staple part of village life in Mapplewell, filling the Barnsley air with the unmistakable aroma of freshly baked bread.
Aroundtown meets John Foster
But what began as a simple cottage bakery with a means to give local residents their daily bread has since risen to an internationally renowned commercial company under the leadership of its current managing director and third generation Foster, John and his cousin Ian. For John, his chosen career has always been ingrained in his DNA; his childhood memories are dusted with flour, the familiar feel of dough embedded under his fingernails. It was perhaps pretty cut and dried that he would one day earn his crust within the family firm as he is quite literally a baker born and bred - having been born on the bakery’s Towngate site in 1961.
Throughout John’s childhood,
Fosters Bakery was part of the daily grind in Mapplewell thanks to his grandmother, Emily, who first launched a small café in which to sell her freshly baked wares back in 1952.
Like many women of her generation, Emily was no stranger to baking. While still living at home, she cared for her parents which gave her the opportunity to develop her baking skills. For her wedding to husband Arthur in 1929 aged 23, Emily did all the catering for the reception and even made her own cake.
After her three children had grown up and with more time to spare after raising her family, Emily
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decided to try her hand at business with a simple desire to provide people with quality goods and a friendly service. With £40 savings, Emily was given the premises - a disused blacksmith shop - for free which Arthur and their son, Donald, fitted out.
They had just the one oven which could only hold two loaves of bread, but the Fosters name soon spread around the village. It became a real family affair with Emily and Arthur’s two daughters also helping where they could; Betty worked with her mum in the shop while Audrey created leaflets to spread the word.
“It opened at a time when rationing was still around but community spirit was in abundance. Villagers would pool their limited supplies so my grandma could produce baked goods including her speciality scones which were a particular favourite among her friends and neighbours.” As the café’s popularity grew and people developed a taste for their breadcakes and loaves, Emily branched out and started to distribute her goods locally. John’s father, Donald, turned mechanic and scoured scrapyards to find and fix up old cars for transport. To cope with demand, they added another oven - effectively doubling capacity - and, in September 1959 the limited company was founded and a new
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