While Coonoor has changed markedly over the last 143 years, with its picturesque dales and valleys being swallowed up by gargantuan concrete buildings and grasslands taken over by networks of crowded roads, one bakery in the town, owned by one family, has stood steadfast in business.
The Crown Bakery, established in 1880 by G. Mohammed Sheriff, has been run by the same family for over 140 years, with minimal changes to the building where the bakery is located since its inception. Inside, huge glass jars, tinged by time with a shade of yellow, are filled with biscuits and cakes.
From Hyderabad
Mohammed Sheriff, who had come to the Nilgiris from Hyderabad, opened one of the first bakeries in the Nilgiris. It is the oldest surviving bakery in the hills. Interestingly, the first bakery in Coonoor, the Nilgiri Bakery, was set up in the 1860s. However, it wound up a few decades later. “Now, the Crown Bakery is known throughout India,” says Abdullah Sheriff, the father of the current proprietor, Ahmed Sheriff.
The town and the area surrounding the bakery have changed since it was started, Mr. Abdullah Sheriff says, adding that the bakery itself was surrounded by a vacant land, the size of a football field, where children would often gather to play. Over the decades, the area has gradually been consumed by other buildings housing businesses and even bakeries. However, Coonoor residents still visit the Crown Bakery to buy breads and cakes.
B. Arjunan, 42, a resident of Coonoor, says he and his family have always bought bread from the Crown Bakery since he was a child. “Of course, there are newer bakeries in town, but most Coonoor residents have been used to buying from this bakery. There is a lingering charm of walking in and seeing the same bottles containing biscuits you saw as a child on the counters, and the quality is still unmatched,” Mr. Arjunan says.
Every day, freshly prepared items arrive at the bakery; bread and cakes are in high demand.
Mr. Abdullah Sheriff says the bakery used to supply products to the then British Barracks at the Madras Regimental Center at Wellington, Coonoor. “Even today, Army officers visit the bakery to buy cakes and bread or send their cars to pick them up,” he says.
The Crown Bakery has also had its share of famous visitors. Mahatma Gandhi came in during his visit to the hills in 1934. The who’s who of the Bollywood have been regular patrons. “We even supply snacks to locations where films are shot in the Nilgiris,” says Mr. Abdullah Sheriff.
The recipes for the specialities of the bakery, which include ‘varkey’, honey cakes, plum cakes, bread and biscuits, are a closely guarded secret. They have remained largely unchanged since the bakery was started. “We still make all our products using wood-fired ovens and we don’t intend to change it,” Mr. Abdullah Sheriff says.
A testament to the family
P.J. Vasanthan, who documents the history of the Nilgiris, says that while the first bakery in the Nilgiris was the Snarre Bakery opened in Udhagamandalam in the 1840s (of which no photographic records exist), the Crown Bakery was one of the first Indian-run bakeries. “That the bakery is still functioning is a testament to the family that has run it for five generations. It is an integral part of the history of the town,” he says.
Recently, the Crown Bakery was invited to the Ooty Literary Festival in Udhagamandalam. Calls are growing to declare the bakery a heritage building.
