Anger over jump in cost of bread

There was anger in Stirling 100 years ago this week after bakers in the town added a half penny to the price of a 4lb loaf.

The matter was raised at a meeting of Stirling Town Council’s food control committee, one of many set up across the country during the war to help regulate supplies of essentials and monitor prices.

Inflation and shortages of flour had pushed up the price of bread. However, as it was such a staple of the diet, particularly among the poor, the Government’s Food Controller had ordered that the price should be stabilised.

Speaking at the meeting of the town council’s food control committee, ex-Bailie Watt wanted to know why the price of a 4lb loaf was nine and a half pence in Stirling when it was being sold elsewhere for nine pence.

It was, he said, a matter that affected every person in the community.

Food committee chairman Bailie Duff said there had been a request from the (Master Bakers of Stirling District) to add a halfpenny to the price of a nine pence loaf.

They blamed “extra costs in Stirling for carriage and cartage” but the request had been refused by the committee.

The Town Clerk said the bakers were entitled to appeal to the Government’s Food Controller but meantime the price was fixed at nine pence and anyone asking for more was breaking the law.

Bakers were entitled to charge for “parcelling and delivery” but the price of a loaf bought over the counter and unwrapped was fixed at nine pence, said the Town Clerk .

Dean of Guild Menzies said some bakers in Stirling were charging nine pence while others were selling a loaf at the higher price.

Prices also varied in Dunblane where a 4lb loaf cost nine pence in one baker’s, nine and a half in another and 10 pence in a third.

In Drymen, there was “considerable disappointment that 4lb loaves were being sold at nine and a half pence in shops and 10 pence from vans.

The Observer’s correspondent there said: “The Master Bakers of Stirling District have fixed this price and will soon discover other reasons for adding another bawbee until we reach the old price again.”

The Observer reported no conclusion to the discussion of the Stirling food control committee although Councillor McLellan said members had decided a 4lb loaf should cost nine pence.