(April 6 update: Selling like hotcakes as Satterthwaites springs back to life)
Easter Rising #1
Just when you thought your Bavarian Slice had gone to that big custard factory in the sky, it’s back.
Satterthwaites has risen from the dead, with a new owner, a modernised logo and a couple’s life savings to resurrect one of the city’s last independent bakeries.
It opens this weekend, and Liverpool Confidential turned up to blag a loaf on Friday as the finishing touches were being put to the counters and the decor in the smart new shop front on Coronation Road, Crosby, in what was and is the original Satties bakery.
John and Sarah Wills (right) ditched yuppie life in the capital for cakes up north when they bought out another ailing cake shop, Harrison’s, in Tarporley, a few years ago.
Jon and Sarah WillsFrom this weekend they will be churning out all the same pork pies and pastries that made legions of north Liverpudlians so lardy and hardy through two world wars and one world cup.
How can they be so sure? They have re-employed the original master baker, Kev Willis, that's how, along with Sue Reid who we pictured when it all went horribly wrong for the 100 year-old firm last autumn.
Sue and the original area manager Sandra Jones were rescued by Waterfields, who took over several of the Satterthwates shops when they closed. They were glad, but it wasn't the same.
Sharon Jones and Sue Reid"I'm back where I belong," said Sue, "I would answer the Waterfields phone and say 'Satterthwaites, South Road'.
"I always said if it came back, I would be there like a shot."
The shops have gone and there's just this single outlet - or Bakehouse, as is the fashion.
Punters can expect beaming smiles from everyone when they turn up for their baps. The entire staff of nine are from the original Satterthwaites team.
Sam and Grace Henley
Easter Rising #2
In case you were wondering, the Satterthwaites loaf (a granary, retailing at £1.60) started life at the Wills' Winsford bakery and was finished at ovens in Crosby. It was a significant improvement on the former incarnation and is well worth your dough (sorry, a bit).
But is was not the only bread we bagged this week.
The Baltic Best (£2.50) is a king of loaves if you happen to be around Bridgewater Street in the Baltic Triangle.
May we suggest a cat It comes from the newly opened Baltic Bakehouse, the sterling effort of brother and sister Sam and Grace Henley who, like the Wills, come from backgrounds very different to baking: Sam was a teacher until the need to have a knead on a daily basis got to much.
Now they are up to their knees in yeast and organic flour every morning to turn out some truly special bread, including sourdough, along with cookies, Chelsea buns and any other fancy that, well, takes their fancy.
The gluten content from the flour meant this was the springiest loaf we'd tasted in years.
Sam and Grace took their cues from tutors at Liverpool Community College before they dived into the enterprise and were clearly good pupils. Customers must think so, they shelves are usually empty by late afternoon. With good reason.
Hoax call
WATCH out all you trendsetters and creative types – the owners of a soon-to-be city centre hangout are planning to clasp you to their bosoms. Figuratively speaking, we assume.
Hoax HostelTo be known as “The Hatch”, the basement joint in a new five-star Stanley Street hostel, says it will “embrace local artists and the hipsters in town”.
Up on the ground floor, a “street kitchen” and bar will be big enough to cater for more than 200 customers on a good night.
That's to be called Hopskotch, which will doubtless have the etymological purists among you exclaiming “K?” in the manner of Manuel in Fawlty Towers.
Owners Starboard Hotels promise both will be “high quality operations”, set in a 250-bed, 49-room hostel set to open in July.
But what's in a name? Can we expect chambermaids playing knock and run, whoopy cushion toilet seats and buckets of water balanced precariousy on bedroom doors? Who knows?
But the Hoax Hostel is a new venture for Starboard boss Paul Callingham and if all goes well, Liverpool may be the first of many across the UK.
“We are looking to open hostels in party cities,” Callingham said recently. “So Newcastle, Liverpool, Leeds, Bristol.”
He certainly talks the talk, adding: “I don’t think we’d want to build a new-build hostel as it would feel too clinical”.
Callingham says the Hoax is “a Premier Inn with bunk beds basically, and you can choose to book a bed or a room”.
And the Hoax may not just appeal to visitors from afar. Confidential has one pal, based on the Wirral, who books into a budget hotel after a night in Liverpool because “it's cheaper than a taxi home!”
Leaf Jelly
Jelly heads
THE first “jelly” was formed in New York by two chaps shivering in their lonely garets and longing for a little company plus the collective heat it would generate.
Now the “casual work-togethers” of freelancers, home-workers, micro business owners and others have wibble wobbled their way across to the UK.
There's usually some sort of food and drink involved – well, the brain needs sustenance, after all – hence Jelly Liverpool is based at Leaf on city centre Bold Street, meeting on the first and third Thursdays of the month.
Now Stamps bar in Crosby village has got in on the act with a once-a-month get-together. You can chat, swap ideas, or just quietly get on with some work (bring your own laptop), while warming your hands on the radiator – what a treat! There is even a free cuppa and food to be had.
Jelly is for people who enjoy working at home, yet miss the camaraderie of co-workers. So it's a bit like spending the odd day in the office, except better because you decide when you're going home.
*Crosby Jelly happens in the rather nice upstairs room at Stamps every Wednesday that falls nearest the middle of the month. Follow @JellyCrosby on Twitter.
