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Some bakers in Stoke-on-Trent claim they are using the same bread making recipe today as they would have used during World War One. However as Britain wasn’t self-sufficient for food during the conflict, shortages led to other types of grain being used for baking.

There’s also a suggestion that during the war bread was kept back for a number of hours so it wasn’t sold fresh – selling stale bread so people would eat less of it.

The war also sees more people moving to growing their own food on allotments created from grassland and grazing land. It’s reported in Stoke-on-Trent the number of allotments quadrupled during the war and the council ran courses for people with less experience of growing food, including making use of a ‘demonstration plot’.

Location: London Road Bakehouse, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 5AG
Image: Interior of Rowland’s Bakery in Stafford during WW1
Photograph courtesy of Staffordshire Museum Service