Fitzbillies

Recently we were asked to help revive an old institution in Cambridge, Fitzbillies. Famous for its Chelsea buns, sadly the building had seen better days.

Following a tweet by Stephen Fry mourning its closure, Alison and Tim Hayward decided to buy the business, Tim is the food writer for the Guardian and Financial Times. They took us on to kick life back into the building. It was a scary moment, I had a very small budget, a building that was in dire need of work and delightful art nouveau façade to preserve. Whilst hanging out there in a very empty and rather smelly shop pulling together the designs and specifications, we had frequent knocks on the door by well dressed, elderly gentlemen, I guess retired dons. “I hope you aren’t going to change the place too much, I’ve been coming here for sixty years”. No pressure then.

Today the business is thriving, the Chelsea buns again world famous, they do dinner too - worth a trip up to Cambridge.