The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Pacey’s staff with another top batch: From left – Susan Waltham, Ian Waters, Marlene Burton, Megan Rangeley, Kerry Croft and Richard Pacey. Photo (NIKKI GRIFFIN): VNG090814-17
Dedicated baker Richard Pacey is about to remove a batch of scrumptious bread rolls from his beloved oven for the final time.
His business has been a cornerstone of Red Lion Street, Spalding for very nearly a century, but will cease trading on Saturday, August 23.
It will be a sad time for 71-year-old Richard, who has run Pacey’s with wife Eileen since his father died in 1978.
“I can’t go on forever,” Richard said. “I’ve gone well over the standard retirement age and it’s time to call it a day!”
The seven other members of his loyal staff face redundancy, including Ian Waters who has worked alongside Richard since 1966.
The business and a four-bedroom property have been on the market for 18 months, but with potential buyers’ interest remaining at just that, Richard accepts that the historic bakery has just eight days left.
“The furnace will go down and I would imagine that will be it,” he said. For Richard it means no more 4.30am starts, no more stoking the fire for the antiquated steam tube oven.
AE Pacey and Son began life in 1909 in a small rented bakery in Whittlesey. Richard’s grandparents Albert and Maud began married life there, moving to New Road in Spalding four years later. In 1916 the business hopped over the road to its present site. The steam tube oven installed by Leicester firm Albert Hunt Ltd then is the one still used today. 
Richard said: “I run it in just the same way my grandfather did with solid fuel.” There were about four such ovens in the district then but today probably just a handful remain across the country.
Richard’s dad Cyril took over the bakery in 1935, later running it with wife Margaret.
The business has always been run in the same traditional way, although the output of products has altered with the passage of time. Bread loaves became less popular with customers, but smaller items such as rolls of many different varieties and tea cakes are still big business.
On a weekday, Richard bakes about 1,000 items. That figure triples on a Saturday.
Pacey’s has supplied Turner’s Fish Restaurant next door with its bread rolls for at least 50 years. Pennington’s café – also in Red Lion Street – is a customer too but the bakery has never got involved with van deliveries.
Richard accepts that the business requires modernising and this might be off-putting to interested parties. He said: “It needs someone to spend some money. It’s not really a modern bakery. “We have kept the oven maintained but it’s time for an overhaul of it as the bricks in the furnace wear.”
After working 12-hour days from Tuesday to Saturday for much of his life, Richard is looking forward to having more time to visit places. He certainly won’t miss the 3am alarm call at his Pinchbeck home.
He said: “I won’t be up so early! “My wife is looking forward to retirement too.
“The first thing we’d like is a rest. We’ve only ever taken two short holidays a year – one in the spring and one in the summer.”
He added: “Eileen and I are most grateful for all the patronage from our customers over the years.”
