It was in 1901 that, having served his apprenticeship, Harry Bernard Burbidge left the employment of Mr Sturgess's Blisworth bakery in Northampton, to start his own venture. In the following years he had business pursuits at New Milton in Hampshire, Borough Green in Kent, and in 1926 he managed a baker's shop and cafe on the pier at Paignton in Devon. By this time, his son Charles Fletcher Burbidg
e was helping in the business, having married Muriel Taylor, a Welsh girl whose family had moved to Paignton. They then moved to Regent's Street, Weston super Mare, to run a new bakery business but moved to Andover due to the unsteady seasonal trade. In Andover the family rented a bakery from Mr Bowden of Shipton Bellinger, and having made a success of the business, were able to purchase the bakery and adjoining plot in 1937. Harry Bernard Burbidge retired in 1956, handing the bakery over to Charles and Muriel who continued building on Harry's fine tradition. Charles duly handed the bakery down to his son, John Burbidge in 1963, and in 1967 the bakery expanded with the new supermarket trend, becoming the first self-service shop in Andover. For the next 30 years, the shop continued in this form, being one of the largest, independent, family run foodstores in the south of England. On John's retirement in 1997, the business now managed by John's son Steven Burbidge, returned to its roots, with the building of a new bakery shop, specialising in traditionally baked bread and morning goods, as would have been sold in Harry's day back in 1901.
