The revelation that The Modern Boulangerie is moving into the expansive Celandine Hall in Ramsgate’s Harbour Street is not as surprising as it may at first seem.
The business, started by George Bellamy-Adams in April 2017, has blazed a trail since its inception.
George, who quit as head baker at venues in London in a bid to go it alone, first set up business in the premises of the Grumpy Goblin gaming store, originally in the High Street and then in Queen Street.
Specialising in Viennoiserie – which translates as ‘things of Vienna’ and includes croissants, Pain au Chocolat and Pain aux Raisin and also in Beignets, which are French pastries – trade began as business to business with some personal orders also catered for.
The success of that micro-business and demand for George’s kitchen creations from cafés, restaurants and shoppers meant a move to his own shop in Westcliff Road where he and a new team -including mum Karen behind the scenes – opened in July 2020.
A kickstarter helped to kit the new premises with bread ovens, meaning George could expand the products he was offering. Throughout the pandemic The Modern Boulangerie kept the doors open, juggling the steady demand alongside extra covid measures and the challenges of operating at the height of the virus.
Hard work, talent, imagination and a love of community have now resulted in a major undertaking with the business relocating from the tiny Westcliff Road site to the rather grand four floor Celandine Hall, which offers 7,400sq ft of space.
The property, which was last used as an indoor market until its closure in 2014, has a history of trade from a toy shop in the first half of the 1800s to a drapers and gentleman’s outfitters in the latter half of the century before being annexed by the growth of the Hyland, Lewis and Linon department store.
During this era the building had significant alterations and sometime after 1929 the shop front was unified and remains as found today.
Circa 2020, the owners of Celandine Hall, sisters Bella Landen and Sophie Hubble, secured a capital grant and carried out a renovation of the Grade II Listed site before it went on the lease market.
Now the site will become The Modern Boulangerie shop with patisserie and deli and a 50-60 cover café on the ground floor and below that a huge kitchen with separate areas for baking, patisserie, café prep and short orders. There will be new, three deck ovens where 60 loaves can be produced at a time compared to 8 currently. There will be space for dry store and goods such as croissants and sourdough can be made in a cool area away from the heat of the ovens.
And there are plans for students to gain training and working experience at the Boulangerie as well as collaborations with pop-up ventures and food traders.
George, 33, said: “It is a big commitment and a heavy investment but I am very confident. I know my staff and what we can do, the only thing that has been limiting us is capacity and space.”
The staff numbers will increase from 5 at the current site to at least ten initially and then more as needed.
Karen said: “What we also want to do is training for young people, catering school students. We are also very keen for it to be a community hub and a safe space for LGBTQ+ people and other groups to spend time in. We want the community to feel this is their space.”
There are also talks with an isle company about installing a smoker at the premises.
George said: “They will be able to smoke their products here and we will be able to take some of their goods for the shop and café. They won’t be working here but will have the space to do what they want and then leave.
“There is also the space to get other chefs in or people who want to do interesting stuff, perhaps come in and host an event. It would be great to get in someone like chef Joe Hill and other guest chefs to teach students.”
On the main floor a glass partition will separate the shop at the front from the café, which will sit below two large skylights.
One shop front window will be displaying goods on sale while the other will display local art.
The Modern Boulangerie has taken a ten year lease and is letting the top two floors of the building on a five year deal to Ramsgate architect firm del Renzio & del Renzio.
The aim is for The Modern Boulangerie to open at the new premises this Autumn. The West Cliff Road shop remains open.
Karen said: “It has all been very positive. The community has really been behind us and supported us through lockdown as we were also there for them.”
A new kickstarter is being launched to help with the purchase of the three-deck ovens, with a £25,000 target.
I wish them all the best and look forward to visiting
its a funny time to open a high end shop when everyones skint ? + theres two bakers nearby and one of them is in the same street
Of course this is just what Ramsgate needs, more fattening cream cakes, and carbs! Saw a morbidly obese woman this morning, with both knees buckling under her mountainous bulk! That will cost the NHS when she loses both legs to diabetes, and organ failure. What is the matter with them? Surely they must know they are eating themselves to death, Oh! of course….
Not everyone who eats cakes is obese, just like not everyone who drinks beer gets fat. Everything in moderation, combined with regular exercise…
Whatever, I wish the business success.
I agree Peter. I am quite large and rarely eat cakes.
I also wish it well but looks too expensive for my purse
I could eat anything up until my early 40s yet remained very skinny, but nowadays I have to be a bit more careful (even minor changes can help – I used to always eat a few biscuits with my cuppa at around 11am, but now I’m sitting here eating an apple instead!).
I have always been on the large side! Only have to look at a biscuit and I put on weight! Lol
You look slim still?
Did you use to smoke by any chance?
Who, me? No, never smoked, or taken drugs, always stayed slim and active, as well as eaten mostly healthily (still had a blimming heart attack though!). Apologies if you’re talking to Ruth.
No the comment was directed at you.
I was curious as my ex husband was slim until about 50 when he finally kicked smoking!
Sorry about your heart attack!
Ruth, the bakery is very reasonably priced. £2 or so for a loaf of beautiful sourdough bread. You might want to have a wander in and see what they have to offer.
Good luck George & Karen. You serve quality stuff. Ignore the complaining gits on this site. The other local bakers don’t serve the same delicious bakes as you so no competition there
Good to see a use for the old Lewis and Hyland shop. I hope the team at Modern ‘Boulangerie’ are up to the step-change needed to leap from a part-time ‘hobby’ to a real business that is customer focussed.
Perhaps the staff can lean on walls to smoke somewhere out of sight at the new premises and perhaps the head baker can develop the sort of work ethic that a real boulanger has? I asked once what the nearest they had to French bread was and an ill-informed assistant pointed out something very removed from the real thing.
To their credit, they asked the baker who, to my amazement, said “you needn’t think I’m getting up to start work at 4:30am to start baking…”
Their produce is mediocre and overpriced. Maybe they should visit a real boulangerie?
Maybe I caught them on a bad day, and I really do wish them success in their new venture and are willing to put in the effort needed to raise the game.
The French REALLY know how to do food – AND they rely on quality over quanity, hence their lower obesity rates! An Amazing country, that unfortunately is far less influential culturally than the USA, despite the fact that we can see it from the UK.
I’ve little doubt that this place is good – albeit by our far lower standards.
*quantity* even.
Like snails, frog legs and Foie Gras then Peter, Urrgh! I have travelled a lot in France, and had French friends, and the best food I can remember was when we stayed with the parents of a friend in Lyon, but they were Italian!
I love fois gras, but they’re all just a small part of French menus, just as black pudding, jellied eels and whelks are in ours. The French are very fussy about their bread and pastries though, ditto fruit & veg.
I went to Lyon in 2019 (albeit as the start and end of a week-long river cruise), a much nicer place than I expected!
The shop on West Cliff Road looks like a total dump from the outside. Not painted nicely, random cheap-looking notices sellotaped here and there, cheap looking faded signs, windows rarely cleaned … If you were visiting and didn’t know what the place sold, you wouldn’t think it was worth even checking it out. All aspects of a business are important. Maybe they’ll get it right at the new venue?
Very good points. Pride in appearance – of both stores and staff – goes a long way!
Exactly – open when they feel like it, amateur signage, extortionate prices and generally poor presentation.
Maybe the new premises will offer the opportunity to adopt a more professional approach. Maybe a change of name to something that better reflects its skill range and quality should be considered, as calling it a boulangerie is misleading? It doesn’t seem as if either the staff or their regular customers have ever been to France and seen the range, quality and value for money that even supermarket boulangeries offer.
Genuine ‘artisan’ boulangeries are on a different planet
There’s a cafe/restaurant local to me, whose “Greek salad” largely consists of lettuce, and their “Waldorf salad” has no walnuts!
George’s products are top notch. He was incredibly generous with the two huge Victoria Sandwich cakes filled with the best strawberry jam and whisked double cream for our Jubilee tea. Best of luck George. May you train many youngsters to bake as well as you.
Hmmm… seems a bit of a waste of all that space. The owners were apparently hoping for a small cinema or the like, but clearly had problems renting it. A shame it couldn’t have been something more for the community. And why the need to say safe space for certain groups (of which I am part) ?!? Like other places aren’t? The current bakery seems OK but probably about the right size as is.
Great news, love all their products. Good luck with the business expansion.
Harbour street is changing, Thanks to private investment.
Hopefully they’ll ‘up their game’ with their croissants. They promised much with their Westcliff shop, but they’re always rock hard- but probably due to the heat in their small shop.
Onwards and upwards. Bon chance George & co!