Demo website — built by High Street Forge

Our story

One borrowed oven, one stubborn family.

In 1979 Tom Millington took over a baker's shop on Micklegate with a borrowed oven, a hand-painted sign, and a simple rule: if you wouldn't serve it to your own family, it doesn't leave the oven.

Bakery ovens inside the shop

Three generations

Same oven, same hour of the morning.

Tom's daughter Ruth runs the bake now — same recipes, a few new ones — and her son Sam works the Saturday counter. The notebook of regulars' orders has been behind the till since 1987, and it's still updated in pen.

We grind some of our own flour, fire the oven at 4am, and close when the shelf is empty — which on Saturdays is before 1pm.

The notebook

Dates that matter.

  1. 1979

    Tom opens on Micklegate with one oven and a hand-painted sign.

  2. 1987

    The regulars' order book starts. It's never been replaced.

  3. 2004

    Ruth takes over the bake; the sourdough starter gets a name (it's called Tom).

  4. 2026

    Still 4am starts, still the same rule: family first, shelf second.

What we believe

Three things we won't skip.

  1. 01

    Overnight ferments. Bread needs time, and we don't cheat it with additives.

  2. 02

    Local first. Yorkshire flour when we can, York milk, butter from the dales.

  3. 03

    An honest crust. What looks burned is caramelised, and what looks pale we re-do.

Come by

The kettle's on at the back.

48 Micklegate, York YO1 6LF · Tue–Fri 7:00–15:00 · Sat 7:00–14:00