It was all hands to the ovens as husband-and-wife team Andy Strang and Ruth Batham opened Leola, their new family bakery in Stroud High Street this week.
The bakery has breathed new life into number six, High Street, one of the few remaining 17th century buildings in the centre of town.
Leola will be open Tuesday- Saturday, 8am – 4pm, selling bread and pastries to take away, as well as a light breakfast and lunch menu, cakes and hot and cold drinks to enjoy inside, with seating for around 25 people.
Strang has form when it comes to baking. His seeded sourdough (now called The Stroudie) was the winner of the 2019 World Bread Awards, made from a blend of wheat and rye flour, with sunflower, flax, poppy and pumpkin seeds.
His passion for baking and fermentation grew out of a PhD in physics, following which he founded the Bread By Bike bakery in North London in 2017. However, a love of his native West Country drew him and his wife to Stroud over three years ago, and since then he has been planning and searching for the right location for Leola.
Grain and hospitality run in the family for Ruth, whose family have run Bathams Brewery in the Black Country for six generations. They still brew using traditional 54-gallon hogshead casks, and operate twelve pubs in the Black Country. Alongside a background in brewing and baking, she developed an art practice and will be curating a rolling programme of artworks at Leola, beginning with a three-month show of works from award-winning Rodborough illustrator Tom Sears.
The Leola name is a portmanteau of Strang and Batham’s daughters’ names, and family is central to the identity of the bakery, created in collaboration with family friends Guy and Ella from Dapple, Stroud-based designers specialising in supporting the hospitality sector. Sourcing and engaging local creative talent has also been key to the planning process for Strang and Batham, including working with Rodborough architect Becca Stephens’ Settle Studio.
Understanding and engaging with growers and regional food suppliers is also central to Leola’s philosophy. Strang has built strong links through the South West Grain Network, a community of farmers and millers who work to ensure the source of each batch of grain and flour used on site is understood from field to fork. Meanwhile, Leola’s coffee has been sourced from Somerset Roundhill Roastery in Strang’s native Somerset, brewed by a bespoke Kees Van Der Western Spirit coffee machine. We are using stone ground UK grain from farmers regen techniques.
Andy said: “We’ve put our heart and soul into Leola over the last six months, and we’re so excited to finally be open to the public. It has been a privilege to work with such a talented bunch of local craftspeople and designers to deliver our vision of a new family bakery in the centre of Stroud. We are grateful to everyone who has supported us, and to our hard-working Leola team who made our opening day such a success.
“Stroud town centre continues to go from strength to strength, but with the closure of institutions like Walkers it felt like the time was right to bring food production back to the High Street. We will be baking right here on the premises every day using local ingredients from suppliers like Good Small Farms.”
Ruth added: “Leola is a project we always wanted to do when we moved to Stroud. It is a privilege to create something which supports local businesses and adds something new to the town centre. Stroud offers so much to us and we’ve so pleased to give something back. There are so many great new businesses opening in the town centre, including the Fold haberdashery and the Klang Two Art Hub in George Street and the recently opened House of Goblin pottery in Union Street. We want to play our part in keeping the High Street thriving.”
Instagram at @leola_bakery
Leola will be open – Tuesday to Saturday 8am – 4pm.
