A family business
Lawrence Webster Waring
Lawrence Webster Waring moved to Reading from Yorkshire in 1928 to take up the position of Works Manager at Harris’ Bakery in Reading town centre. He’d previously worked for the world-famous ‘Betty’s of Harrogate’.
It’s thought that before long Lawrence fell out with the owner of Harris’ who stated, “there isn’t enough room in this town for the both of us.” Lawrence was told to get out and not come back!
This argument prompted Lawrence to look for premises and start his own business. He rented a bakery in Weldale Street before meeting Arthur Newbery, a prominent businessman in Reading at the time. Newbery secured Lawrence a property in Armour Road, Tilehurst which, in 1932, became the family home and premises of the bakery he called ‘The Cake Shop’.
Where it all began
Armour Road
The business operated from the back of the family home, baking fresh daily by hand (which we still do to this day) before delivering it by bike to the local community. The purchase of their first van enabled the family to deliver further afield and carry more baked goods.
Interestingly, at this time it wasn’t considered important to have a high street shop thanks to these direct deliveries to customers. However, we’re not exactly sure when, Lawrence’s wife Alice Louisa Waring, more affectionately known as ‘Louie’, decided to start selling from the family home.
Customers would let themselves in through the front door, stroll down the
hallway and turn into the front room where two small counters were set up from which the bread was sold. We still trade from the original site in Armour Road, although you wouldn't recognise it now.
The evolution of Warings
Four generations of bakers
Lawrence and Louie had six children: Enid, Marie, Joan, Nora, David and Sydney, who all worked at the bakery at different times in their lives. But it was Sydney who returned to the business full time.
Syd had worked in the bakery ever since he was a small boy using an orange crate to reach the table and work the dough by hand with his dad. He left after an argument (we’re starting to notice a theme here!) and returned only after Lawrence agreed to retire and let him run the business.
Warings remained a small business in Tilehurst until 1978 when it acquired another shop called ‘Philpotts Stores’ in Spencers Wood. The premises featured a small bakery to the rear, and it was decided to split production over the two sites, with cakes and pastries being produced in Tilehurst and the bread at Spencers Wood.
The next few years saw the business continue to grow with Janet, Syd’s daughter joining. Janet covered holidays and worked weekends in the shop before leaving school at fifteen and completing her City & Guilds qualifications in baking and a night school qualification in sugarcraft.
Five bakery shops
Expanding business
On Syd’s retirement, Janet took the position of Managing Director and steadily grew the business to five shops, with all the baking now under one roof at Spencer's Wood. She oversaw the expansion of Spencers Wood to accommodate the extra production. Janet could be found in the bakery and at head office ensuring our high standards were upheld until early 2024 when she retired after 55 years.
One of her sons, Daniel, followed in his mum’s footsteps to join the business in 2003, working in our shops before moving to the office. Janet’s youngest son Tom also joined as a delivery driver in 2017, after Mick, Syd’s son-in-law, retired after 40 years on the job.
In 1983, Syd’s son Alan joined the business as a baker and is now a company director. He still bakes, makes deliveries and looks after the maintenance of our shops and equipment. Alan’s wife Genia spent over 15 years working in the office alongside Janet, helping in the shops and assisting with our home deliveries at peak times.
Leah, Alan’s daughter, joined Warings in 2010 as a confectioner and now runs the business as the Managing Director, having worked across all areas of the business over the last 15 years, including as head of product development.
But you don’t have to be related to be part of the Warings family. Colleagues across the business feel like extended family members with many of them working for us across decades. For instance, there’s Kim, who during her career at Warings worked her way up from the shop floor to the role of Managing Director between Janet’s retirement and Leah taking on the role.
Bringing our baking to more communities
Present Day
2020 marked a turning point for many businesses. When the Covid-19 pandemic broke and the country went into lockdown, we launched a new website and home delivery service in just three days. At its peak, we were making 200 deliveries each day – Alan and Leah in one van and Leah’s brother and Tom in another. This service not only kept us connected with our customers but also deepened local relationships. Those doorstep connections remain part of who we are today.
We still hand deliver to our local community and now those further afield can also enjoy a taste of Warings with our favourite bakes available to order online for delivery across mainland UK. We’ve widened our coverage by launching weekly pop-up stalls and opened a new site in Henley. Visitors will notice that our Henley site has a fresh new look, one which we’ll be rolling out across all our locations in the coming year.
Award winning
Best bakery in Berkshire
Expansion has been accompanied by recognition. We are immensely proud of our heritage and achievements, none more so than being crowned England’s Most Loved Bakery during the inaugural Craft Bakers’ Week.
However, our most memorable awards are a little closer to home and marked a fantastic year for the bakery. In 2015 we were awarded the prestigious Pride of Reading Award for Business in Action, recognising our continued support of local communities, charity fundraising events and donations both local and national, followed a few months later with the highest accolade of Retailer of
the Year at the Reading Retail Awards.
We continue to champion craft baking, shopping local and independent retailing and were thrilled to receive a Highly Commended at the UK’s Best Small Shops Competition and more recently be crowned South East winner 2019 and county winner at the National Bakery Awards 2019, 2020 and 2023 – cementing our place among the best independent bakeries in the country.
