Residents rally to save oatcake shop

By Phil Mackie
BBC News

Campaigners have launched an online petition on the No 10 website to try to save the last surviving traditional Staffordshire oatcake shop, which is due to be demolished. But why are the locals so passionate about their oatcakes?

Oatcakes are a type of pancake made with oatmeal which has been a staple for the working classes in Staffordshire for over 200 years.

Between six in the morning and two in the afternoon from Thursday to Sunday every week hundreds of people queue for their oatcakes.

People have been coming to the Hole in the Wall shop in Waterloo Street in Bucknall, Stoke-on-Trent, for over 100 years.

"It's an institution, the Hole in the Wall, they shouldn't get rid of it," says Keith Jones, a taxi driver who has been buying his oatcakes here for longer than he cares to remember.

It is possibly the last traditional oatcake shop in the world Fred Hughes, Local historian

He describes the oatcake as the national dish of the Potteries. "It's just a Stoke thing, it's North Staffordshire, it's a tradition."

The Staffordshire oatcake looks nothing like its Scottish cousin. It's made into a batter from oatmeal, flour, milk and water, and then is ladled on to a griddle and made into a circular pancake.

Imagine a French crepe and you're not far off. It's usually served for breakfast with cheese, bacon, sausage or eggs.

In the 19th Century they were sold from the front rooms of Stoke's terraced houses. Some of these houses evolved into more permanent shops, with a hatch through which the oatcakes were sold on the street.

Factories dismantled

The Hole in the Wall is the last of a dying breed. It sells about 2,500 every day.

"There were a lot of them. There were a couple around the corner here, but as time's gone on they've closed down and become houses," said the Hole in the Wall's owner, Glenn Fowler.

The place has been here something like 100 years, so it takes a lot to destroy it Glenn Fowler, Hole in the Wall owner

Oatcakes are also popular in Cheshire, Derbyshire and parts of north Wales but they have become synonymous with Staffordshire and especially Stoke-on-Trent.

"It is possibly the last traditional oatcake shop in the world," said Fred Hughes, a local historian who hopes that the Hole in the Wall can be saved, even if it has to be moved brick by brick.

"Unfortunately over the last five years we've seen these important factories dismantle and move out of Stoke-on-Trent, big names like Spode and Royal Doulton.

"They've all gone, and the oatcake shop was part of that, because it was part of the community."

Most of the old terraced houses surrounding the Hole in the Wall are already boarded up ready to be knocked down. The Renew North Staffordshire scheme is spending £2.3 billion on regenerating the area, and says it will consider moving it.

"The place has been here something like 100 years, so it takes a lot to destroy it," said Mr Fowler. He and his customers want it to stay where it is, and hope that the new buildings can be erected around it.