Bakery rolls back years on special anniversary

Ahead of its 125th anniversary next year, Broughty Ferry-based bakery Goodfellow and Steven has shared a collection of nostalgic pictures from its archives.

For anyone who has lived or worked in Dundee, Angus, Perth and even Edinburgh, the name Goodfellow and Steven will be synonymous with delicious cakes and other tasty baked goods.

The company’s history goes back more than a century to baker David Goodfellow and his wife Margaret Steven.

The couple founded a bakery in the centre of Broughty Ferry in 1897.

In addition to being descended from a dynasty of bakers, David was an amateur artist of considerable skill.

This talent shone through in both the design and finished quality of his cakes.

The three generations of the family that followed have maintained this reputation, and the business continues to be well-known for its beautifully decorated celebration and wedding cakes.

Sales and marketing director Martin Goodfellow, 54, joined the family establishment in 1995. Prior to this, he had studied to be an archaeologist.

Ahead of marking the company’s 125th anniversary in 2022, he has shared archive photos showing some of the old delivery carts and vans that used to do the rounds in Broughty Ferry and Dundee.

Martin said: “The photos I have included from the turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries are the ‘van’ delivery cart from my great-great-grandfather’s (David M Goodfellow) bakery in Muirhead and that of his brother, Stewart Goodfellow, whose bakery sat where McPherson’s the chemist now sits on Gray Street in Broughty Ferry.

“These two brothers were very much part of the baking family that descends back beyond the earliest records. Very likely before their grandfather, whose bakery still remains in a dilapidated state off Lochee High Street.

“It was while working in Stewart’s premises that my great-grandfather, David Goodfellow, met my greatgrandmother, Margaret Steven, in the early 1890s.

“They subsequently founded the Goodfellow and Steven partnership based in Broughty Ferry that we know today.”

Martin went on: “I am often asked who the Stevens are and what happened to them.

“To which I have to reply: ‘You’re looking at one of them!’

“My great-grandfather was a keen photographer.

“We have some excellent lantern slides of his from the early 20th Century, including many of the fisherfolk of Broughty Ferry and sailing ships on the Tay.

“Unfortunately, he didn’t take any of his own shop.”

Martin has also shared photos of his great-uncle, Alister Goodfellow, from around 1920 going up Camphill Road in Broughty Ferry.

There is also a motorised delivery van, which would have been a modern sight back in 1907.

From top: Alister Goodfellow and cart around 1920; the Goodfellow and Steven shop in Gray Street, Broughty Ferry around 1909; and the shop in 1980.

CELEBRATION: The smartly-dressed staff of Goodfellow and Steven at the Union Street premises in Dundee around 1980.

The original shop in Gray Street, Broughty Ferry.