In conversation with Fitzbillies: The inside story of Cambridge’s iconic bakery

Fitzbillies is indisputably a Cambridge icon, with its Chelsea buns a true culinary staple of the city. But the bakery’s 105 year stint in the city has been anything but plain sailing. Over the years, Fitzbillies has weathered a range of challenges, including two bankruptcies, covid, and a dramatic 1998 fire.

To find out more about the inside story of Fitzbillies I sat down with owner Alison Wright and head baker Gill Abbs, who together boast nearly 70 years’ experience at the bakery.

Fitzbillies’ early years

Alison explained that Fitzbillies was “founded in 1920” by brothers Ernest and Arthur Mason, using their “demob” money from the First World War. Ernest and Arthur were the sons of Cambridge baker Ticker Mason, who owned a bakery at the site that is now Pages Coffee House on Trumpington Street.

Diverging slightly from their baker father, Ernest and Arthur “decided to be confectioners”, selling sweet treats rather than bread. The pair also installed “the beautiful art nouveaux shop front, which was very distinctive and modern in Cambridge at that time.” The 1920 art nouveaux shop front can be seen at the Trumpington Street site to this day.

During this time, Alison described how Fitzbillies was “a real true family business”, situated “right at the heart of the university”. The bakery offered “alternative meals” to undergraduates that didn’t want to eat in hall, at a time long before supermarkets or fast food options in the city.

Ernest and Arthur Mason. Image credits: Fitzbillies

The Mason brothers owned the bakery until 1958, including “through the war and rationing”. Alison explained that Fitzbillies continued to bake its Chelsea Buns through the war, albeit in a “limited supply”.

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Supply was so limited in fact, that to ensure the Chelsea Buns went to loyal customers, customers had to keep and re-use their paper bags from previous purchases. Among students “at the end of the summer term, people who were going down left their paper bag in their room for the person who was coming in the autumn”.

In 1958, the Masons sold the bakery to Mr and Mrs Day. It was under the Days that head baker Gill Abbs was hired in 1971, beginning her career as “the only female in the bakery”. Gill explained that at the time baking was seen as “a job for men rather than women”.

Since joining in 1971, Gill has worked under four different owners of the bakery, with Alison describing her as Fitzbillies’ “secret”.

Following their success, the Days retired in 1980, selling the business to Clive and Julia Pledger. Under the Pledgers, Fitzbillies “expanded to three branches”, with a counter in the department store Eaden Lilley on Market Street, and a “sandwich shop” and cafe on Regent Street, alongside the original Trumpington Street bakery.

1990s challenges

By the early 1990s, the bakery had begun to struggle. In 1991 it went bankrupt, but was bought and revived by Penny Thompson, the bakery’s former office manager.

Further trouble was brought by a dramatic on the 21st December 1998, which Gill explained “started overnight”, and devastated the Trumpington Street premises.

The view of the fire from Trumpington Street. Image credits: Fitzbillies

Gill described how she “couldn’t believe it”, only discovering the fire when she arrived for work in the morning – “we all felt numb”.

After 10 months Pembroke College, the landlord, “allowed Fitzbillies to use the building on the corner” (now the site of Fitzbillies’ coffee shop) as a site to sell their buns, while they baked their goods at Balzano’s on Cherry Hinton Road.

Despite the devastation of the blaze, the fire did not spell the end for Fitzbillies. Instead, according to Alison, “if it hadn’t been for the fire Fitzbillies would probably not have survived”, with the fire allowing for a complete rebuild and re-fit of the bakery in line with modern food and hygiene standards. Fitzbillies finally re-opened its doors on Trumpington Street “at the very end of 2000”.

A recent revival

In early 2011, in the midst of the fallout of the financial crisis, Fitzbillies declared bankruptcy for the second time and was once again forced to close its doors.

This prompted Stephen Fry, one of Cambridge’s most famous alumnus, to tweet “No! No! Say it ain’t so – not Fitzbillies? Why I tweeted a pic of one of their peerless Chelsea buns but a sixmonth ago”.

The tweet spurred current owners Alison Wright and Tim Hayward into action, prompting their successful bid for ownership of the business. Alison had fond memories of Fitzbillies from a childhood in Cambridge, and said of their bid for Fitzbillies: “We had to work quite hard to get it. Other people wanted it”.

After their successful purchase of the business, the couple, alongside head baker Gill, re-opened the bakery on Trumpington Street on the 19th August 2011.

Fitzbillies has since gone from strength-to-strength, firmly re-established its place within the city, with the addition of two other branches on Bridge Street in 2016 and King’s Parade in 2023.

The Fitzbillies branch on Bridge Street

Fitzbillies today

Covid posed another challenge for the business, with Alison describing the “heartsinking weeks” of March 2020, in which there were “a few days when I really thought we would just have to make all the staff redundant”.

Continued deliveries to farm shops and food box delivery schemes kept the bakery going until lockdown regulations were restricted, as “a skeleton crew of six people who had their essential worker designation” continuing to bake. Once regulations allowed Fitzbillies to re-open, “customers came back” – including for their 100th anniversary celebration on the 4th October 2020, in which the bakery gave out 200 Chelsea Buns to lucky (and socially-distanced!) customers.

When discussing the impact of the recent cost-of-living crisis, Alison acknowledged that it has had some impact on the choices customers make, but said that Fitzbillies has been able to weather the storm as “you can have a nice time at Fitzbillies for less than £10”, and “it’s still in the realm of affordable treats”.

Image credits: Fitzbillies

In recent years Fitzbillies has also expanded its online business – many of the staggering 30,000 mince pies they sold this past Christmas were sold online.

Looking to the future, Alison added that she plans to increase her focus on Fitzbillies’ online business this year, with “a new website and a bigger product range”, including “afternoon teas by post.”

The magic of Fitzbillies

Central to the continued magic and popularity of Fitzbillies is its universality. When asked to describe the customer base of Fitzbillies, Alison said “it’s students, it’s academics, it’s people doing their shopping, it’s people who come in for the day from Saffron Walden, it’s people who have come for a weekend break from London, it’s people who have come from China once in their life.”

“It’s like everyone in the world comes to Fitzbillies,” she added, “so many people have their happy Fitzbillies memories.”

“We make delicious things people want to eat and we try and balance the tradition and what we keep of the old with what’s new.”

I for one certainly hope that Fitzbillies will continue to bake for generations of Cambridge students, residents and visitors to come!

Featured image credits: Fitzbillies