Bakers’ Hall Court lies at the end of Harp Street.
Bakers’ Hall Court has seen a great deal of change over the past years. Developers, in their unending effort to create more and more floor space within the City, have raised a jungle of multi-storey buildings and hidden the Court to all but the most penetrating seekers. A few yards away, in Harp Street, is the hall of one of the oldest inhabitants, the Bakers’ Company, from whom the Court acquired its name.
The Bakers’ first Hall, built on this site in 1506, was destroyed in the Great Fire on the 3 September 1666. Since that day, there have been three successive Halls on the site. The present one, which occupies the ground floor and first floor of a nine storey block, was erected in 1961 and is the first of the Livery Company halls to take on 20th century styling.
The Company started as two companies: bakers of brown bread and bakers of white bread, a situation which lasted from 1307 until about 1650 when the two acknowledged that their cause would be better administered under a united baking front.
Traditionally, bakers had relied on the assistance of boys from poor families; wage bills were small and the boys had the benefit of learning a worthwhile trade. When the Government passed a Bill in 1779 to open up the trades of bakers and butchers to anyone, it effectively meant that apprenticeships in these trades would become a thing of the past. The Bakers’ Company complained bitterly that the Bill would severely affect the businesses of their tradesmen. The Company won the day and apprenticeships remained.