It is a remarkable fact that between the confluence and source of a river, almost the whole activities of a nation may be seen. Take, for example, the historic River Thames. At its narrower reaches is London, with its marts and commercial exchanges; its wide expanses of magnificent buildings; its industry and teeming population. Where it meets the waters of the great North Sea is Sunny Southend, displaying spacious esplanades, pleasure beaches, pavilions and pier. But in each there is something of both, for just as London without amusement is unthinkable, so also is Southend without enterprise.

In the modern scheme of affairs, enterprise, of course, can transform deserts into thickly populous and prosperous tracts. It can bring wealth into a tiny village just as it becomes a source of power in a great city. It built the magnificent pier which stretches for one and a half miles into the sea and made Southend famous. In this same pleasant seaside resort, it has made famous the name of H. Garon, Ltd.

In the late eighties – to be precise 1883 – this commanding business was founded by the late Mr. Harry Garon, in the High Street, Southend; the large bakery, the splendidly equipped cafés, shops, restaurants, and ice factory, and its modern cinema, one can hardly credit that it commenced from the smallest of beginnings. But there it is, a tribute to the enterprise of the firm that rivalled the best business acumen of the large concerns of the Capital. Significant of this is the fact that it did the largest business in the fair county of Essex. Employing a staff of between 600 and 700 hands, its output ran into several hundreds of sacks of flour each week, in addition to tons of ice for the whole town, numerous provisions, and a large meat, fish and poultry trade. The business was at present under the control of Mr. Harry Garon as managing director, who was the eldest son of the founder. He was ably assisted by Mr. Frank Garon as a director of the bakery department, and by Mr. Percy Garon, under whose control was the whole of the catering side, as well as the production and distribution of ice.
The bakery incorporated something of the artistic and much of sound and practical design. With a frontage that had been lavishly pebble-dashed and inset with many wide windows in steel casements, it was built, for the most part, of heavy fireproof concrete, and was supported where necessary with stout iron pillars.

Little, if anything, of a recessional nature had been introduced into the plans, so that as far as modern architecture can make it possible, it was hygienic to the last degree. The spaciousness of its several departments was one of its most remarkable features, and this was exemplified, perhaps, in the large flour warehouse situated on the upper storey. There was a room of more than 1,000 sacks of flour, and with such a vast consignment in stock, there was still ample space for the free play of air into and around the many units. Each sack bore the name of some home-milled brand. Indeed, we understand that Messrs. Garon discontinued the use of imported flour quite a considerable time previously, on the ground that not only were they unable to obtain consistent deliveries, but also that they would have no other. Such particular attention to raw material throws light on the phenomenal growth of the business, for flour that is good in itself and has been blended purposely to suit the nature of the consumers’ demands as well as the baking processes of the locality, possesses incomparable advantages in the production of consistently good bread.

Some idea of the spaciousness of the flour warehouse will be gleaned from the description given, but couple with this many other and roomy departments on the same floor, and which we shall describe in due course, and it will be perceived that this was no ordinary type of building, but one in which modern views on sanitation and lighting had been adopted, both in the interests of the workers and of the public.

The actual dough making machinery was of the two sack capacity, revolving arm “Baker” and “Universal” type; and it incorporated automatic water-tempering and measuring devices. All of these units had been fitted to suit the demands of the trade, the capacity of the previous machine or machines, and the making of perfect dough from perfectly milled and blended flour. They had been installed by the well-known firm of bakery engineers, Messrs. Baker Perkins, Limited, of Peterborough.

It is clear that the coupling together of the highest quality productions with strict personal supervision had been responsible for the success which the business enjoyed.

It should be stated that Messrs. Garon specialised in the use of jam made from Essex grown fruit. Moreover, that besides passing every pound of the dried fruit through large capacity and automatic fruit cleaning machines, it was stored in cool hygienic metal bins before an ounce was included in any cake formula. Their penchant for home produced and Empire goods was proverbial. They even discarded foreign sugars because they did not fit in with their scheme of perfection, and one would have seen nothing but bags upon bags of home-made sugars for inclusion in their many and varied cakes and pastries.
There were also other activities of the firm on the same floor. It is no secret in these parts that the confections of Messrs. Garon were of an exceedingly high order of merit, and in this next department, to wit, the decorating section of the confectionery side of the business, everything that one had heard of their productions would have been fully justified.

Down one side a battery of “Morton” cake mixing machines and a special egg-whisking machine by Messrs. Baker Perkins, would have been working at top speed creaming and amalgamating fresh and pure materials for the cakes, whilst the actual coating and decorating were performed in another section, partitioned off by steel fire-proof doors. There the confectioners would have been busy preparing almond paste for the tops of the cakes, beating pure egg-whites into icing sugar to give it the right piping consistency; then working with a star tube, perhaps with a writer, and all the various tools peculiar to their art.
The department was a pride unto the firm, and the following in its history is well worth relating, for it concerns the first wedding gift to H.R.H. Princess Mary.

The gift was in the form of a cake made by Mr. W. R. Plume, the head confectioner and ornamentor, and played an important role at the first festival dinner on behalf of the West-end London Hospital, at the Trocadero Restaurant, Piccadilly, London.
In the first instance an energetic member of the Hospital Committee of Management enlisted the sympathies of Mr. Harry Garon, who kindly promised to make the cake for the benefit of the funds. It was a magnificent specimen of confectionery artistry, and did full justice to the importance of the festival over which Viscount Lascelles, D.S.O. (whose engagement to H.R.H. Princes Mary was announced that morning), presided in his capacity of Chairman of the Hospital Committee of Management. H.R.H. Prince Henry, who was the guest of the evening, adopted the part of auctioneer during the proceedings, and opened the bidding with the words, “I am offered ten guineas for this enormous cake.” Offers then came fast and furious, and soon the figure stood at twenty guineas. Still the bidding continued; sixty guineas were offered, and with no sign of a close. Eventually, when the eighty guinea mark was reached, Prince Henry brought down the hammer, and the cake was brought by The Victoria and Albert Hospital Aid Society, of Bethnal Green.

Alderman James Pullin, the Chairman of the Society, then rose and said to the presiding Chairman: “On behalf of the Victoria and Albert Building Society, I would like to offer the cake as a present to your bride-to-be.” Viscount Lascelles was much touched by the expression of feeling being shown, and thanked the subscribers very warmly. Messrs. Garon, Limited, by their gift, not only, therefore, materially assisted the funds of the hospital, but also had the honour and privilege of supplying one of the first gifts to H.R.H. Princess Mary, after the announcement of her engagement. The operators in this department naturally were very proud of their share in so momentous an affair as a wedding gift to her Royal Highness Princess Mary.

There were still other departments located which were caught up solely in the interests of production. For instance, the roll and confectionery bakehouse, with “Matchless” steam-heated hot-plate and double-deck portable ovens, employed on rolls by night and confectionery by day, and was in full flare as we passed. Production, indeed, has been brought up to its full capacity, and by this means the firm are able to economise greatly, thus leaving a good margin for the further improvement of quality. This was the end of the departments devoted to intake and production on the upper floor, but there were other departments equally important to the improvement of bread and confectionery as sold to the public, and therefore deserving of every attention.

Firstly, there was the bread-wrapping room, in which a "Pioneer" automatic machine wrapped and sealed 2,000 loaves per hour, and which was so easy to manipulate that it could be operated by a boy, had been installed. We are informed that the machine was British built and supplied by Messrs. F. H. Blewett, Ltd., of Astor House, Aldwych, London.

Messrs. Garon were very enthusiastic about the idea of bread-wrapping, one reason being that it was their everlasting aim to attain the highest point of hygiene in food production and distribution; nothing to their mind being worse then uncovered bread distributed in the streets, and contaminated by the dust of the town.

The lower floor was replete with bakehouses, and in its wide compass every oven and machine had been set in position to give the greatest possible space. The work of baking was also facilitated considerably, in that when the ovens of one bakehouse were down, it was quite a simple matter to open up those of another and to continue without hindrance or delay. As a further instance, it brought in the use of any particular set of ovens within reach of any particular type of goods, and it allowed for a better distribution of the men to points where congestion might have occurred.

The bread bakehouse was equipped with four double-deck draw-plate ovens, which were capable of baking eight large batches at once. It also had a four-cylinder divider, made by the same firm, which split the bulk doughs into thousands of pieces to the hour, and coupled to this was a conical automatic hander-up, timed to the mechanism of the divider.
Between these machines, the mixers on the floor above, the moulders and the shaping machine, chute and automatic conveying mechanism continues the distribution from one to the other. With these and other facilities, the firm could turn out many thousands of loaves.

Neat compartments had been constructed for all types of bread tins, and these, supplied by Messrs. Cruise, of Bradford, although numbering thousand upon thousand, were packed into space of very small cubical dimensions. Another feature was the fine substantial bread-racks, fitted on castors and of large holding capacity, as well as of sound steel construction, which have been supplied by F. H. Blewett, Limited. The confectionery bakehouse was somewhat different in its equipment and ovens from the bread bakehouse, but it resembled the latter closely in the respect that everything was of the most modern type, and was maintained in the most scrupulously clean condition.

It boasted of eight brick steam and hot air ovens, as well as a double-deck draw-plate oven, giving in all, ten available baking chambers for all manner of confectionery goods. There was, too, a battery of five cake-mixing machines by Baker Perkins and the Morton Machine Company, in addition to several pastry rollers, bun dividing and pie-blocking machines by Messrs. J. Hunt, of Bolton.
Thousands of cakes, from the rich and heavily fruited wedding and birthday cakes, down to madeiras, sand cakes, Genoas, layer cakes, petit fours and numerous French pastries and biscuits were made every day.
Again, a very considerable trade is done in Melton Mowbrays, small meat pies, Cornish pasties, apple turnovers, dumplings, and hot-plate scones, pikelets and crumpets.

Beside the interesting features of quality and cleanliness in the workmanship and materials, the whole concern was self-contained and efficient in workshops and delivery service. All the bakehouse furniture and horse and motor vans were made or were repaired on the spot. Indeed, the stables, garages and workshops occupied a wing to themselves of quite large dimensions, in which one could comfortably have spent several hours watching the smiths, painters, joiners, signwriters and mechanics at work maintaining the rolling stock in perfect condition. As fine a stud of horses and as fine a fleet of “Ford” and “Morris” delivery vans, were seldom met in the course of a long travel round the country. These were, indeed, super bakeries in the present order of catering to the public.