Page 948 - Reading Mercury

It was a big shock to the landlords when they heard the news. But they told the
Times this week that they are to be offered another house as soon as possible. They
have been given a year to leave the Welcome. Once they have gone, the purchasers—
it is a Slough firm which has bought the inn and the adjoining car park—will get to
work. The present building will come down, and the new premises will be set back in
line with the rest of the shops so that the street can be widened.
Price secret
The purchasers’ name has not been revealed. Their solicitors said this week that
their clients did not wish to release any news at all. Nor was the price revealed but the
Times understands that it is well over £20,000.
The local licensees will not be sorry to hear that the town will lose one licence—for
it is generally agreed that there are already too many pubs. Mr. and Mrs. May hope to
stay locally. They moved to Wokingham and the Welcome nearly 14 years ago from
London and both like the town.

th
Fri 28 April
THE OLDEST OVENS BAKED THE BEST BREAD
For ten years Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Tompkins of the confectioners at the corner of
Rose Street, Wokingham, have been using two of the oldest working ovens in the
country to bake the home-made bread for which they have become so well-known.
But tomorrow (Saturday) they are to retire—and at some future date their shop,
believed to be the second oldest building in Wokingham, will be swept away for road
widening. With it the ancient ovens.
Mr. and Mrs. Tompkins have made many friends who will wish them well in their
retirement at their home, 52 Reading Road, Wokingham.
Mr. Tompkins said that at one time a nameplate on the ovens indicated that they had
been repaired by a firm that had gone out of business in 1812. Originally made to use
faggots for fuel they have been converted to coal and finally to oil. They are unique in
the fact that they work on the principle of getting the heat from the stone floors and
brick sides, which after being heated with blasts of flame to 1,000 degrees, cool down
to a steady 600 degrees after 30 minutes. So well do the bricks and stone retain the
heat that even if they were left untouched for 14 hours they would still be about 300
degrees.
Mr Tompkins has been in the trade 50 years. He opened his first confectionery shop
in Kentish Town on May 1926, the first day of the General Strike. He remained there
until 1949 when, to put it he ‘packed up and went out to Australia to study the general
conditions there. But I was not impressed and returned to England and so to
Wokingham.’
He was chairman of the parliamentary committee for the London Master Bakers’
Federation and became its president in 1945-46 A Rotarian for nearly 10 years, Mr.
Tompkins has been elected the district vocational chairman for 1961-62—the first
time this honour has come to Wokingham He will be able to give unlimited time to
this office during his retirement.
Until the new development takes place the business will be carried on by Messrs.
Polly’s Ltd., of Reading.

th
Sat 20 May
WOKINGHAM GARAGE CATCHES FIRE

946