100 years od fruit and veg and still going strong

Owner of Millie’s of York Simon Baynes has fruit and veg in his blood.

He is the fourth generation of his family to run the greengrocery business started by his great grandfather John one hundred years ago on a small stall on York’s old Parliament Street market.

“Back then it was called Pennington’s,” recalls Simon. “At its height we had the stall on York market and three shops.

“We actually always thought the business dated back to 1920, but I am a bit of a history buff and I did some research and discovered that it actually dated back to 1918.”

After John, Simon’s beloved grandmother Millie and grandfather Eric took over the running of the business before it was handed down to Simon’s father and then to him.

Simon started working at the family business while he was still at school.

“I was always going to go into the business,” he says. “Looking back I would have actually loved to have done something else. I love history and English. But when I left school I went straight into the business, ” says the 49 year-old dad of two young boys.

He says that although he hopes one of his own sons will take on the business, he won’t be putting any pressure on them to follow in his footsteps.

“I would really like them to find their own way and have life experiences. If either of them then want to come into the business then great.

“It has been a real roller coaster with lots of ups and downs. When I was a little boy helping out after school we just couldn’t get the stuff out quickly enough. At the end of the day we would have sold out and we didn’t look ahead too much,” recalls Simon.

“During strawberry season dad didn’t even let me go to school because there was just so much to be done. Running a market stall is a pretty hard job in itself, but with the advent of the supermarket and people wanting fruit and veg out of season the business really struggled.”

Simon says he realised when he was about 30 that things had to change.

“Shopping habits were changing. People started doing one big weekly shop at the supermarket where they could get everything. They were no longer visiting their local greengrocer or butcher.

“About 20 years ago I said to my dad that we had got to start doing some wholesale. There was a rise in the celebrity chefs and cooking programmes and people were wanting different fruit and veg,” says Simon.

“People were suddenly wanting things like celeriac and fennel and I realised that this was where we needed to be, supplying restaurants.

“But my dad was really against it and so I started doing it on the sly behind his back.”

Quite quickly Simon enlisted his first couple of York restaurants, which earned him an impressive £4,500.

“I gave my dad the cheques and suddenly he was on board.”
The business has never looked back and now employs eight full time and four part time staff and has 130 customers on their books.

Having closed the three greengrocers shops due to the lack of demand, ten years ago Simon decided that he wanted to open another greengrocers, this time on the up-and-coming Bishopthorpe Road in York, in memory of his grandmother, Millie.

“I always wanted to do something in my grandmother’s honour. Even after we had to close the three shops I always had it my mind that I wanted to open another one eventually and name it after her. She was the most incredible woman. She took over as our mother, but she’d get up every morning at four and go to Leeds marker, then come back and get us ready for school before doing a full day’s work and then having tea on the table. She was such a strong woman and way ahead of her time.”

Since he opened Millie’s of York, Bishopthorpe Road has taken off and business is good.

But six years ago Simon took the difficult decision to close the stall on York market.

“It was really difficult. We had been there for nearly 90 years come rain or shine.

“It broke my heart, but we had just had our first child and I just decided enough was enough. But |I couldn’t bring myself to go in on the last day.”

However the wholesale business was really doing well, with more than 130 customers, and selling much more than just fruit and veg.

“People started asking if we could deliver cheese and other products and so it just seemed to make sense. We deliver pretty much everything other than fresh meat. We just don’t have two minutes, business is so busy.”

A party is planned to mark their business’s centenary which will include staff and customers.

“We think we must be one of the oldest family-run fruit and vegetable businesses in York,” says Simon.

Also to mark the milestone they are introducing a number of fruit and veg boxes.

“I am passionate about local produce and am thrilled how the family business has grown. We cater for both the public and businesses, who want fresh locally grown produce and we’ve built our business on this model. It is our centenary year this year and business is still has strong as ever,” says Simon.

“I do think things are going full circle. People are interested in seasonal local produce and that’s where we come in.”

TIMELINE

1918: John Pennington starts working on the York Market in the fruit and veg business

1945: Eric Pennington, after serving in the Merchant Navy, takes over the business on the York Market

1960s: The family open up three fruit and veg shops – Clarence St, Micklegate and Walmgate

1984: Simon Baynes is made a junior partner in the business

1995: Simon starts the 
wholesale business in 
conjunction with the stall on 
the Market

2005: Simon moves his wholesale business to Redeness St, York

2007: Millies (named after Simon’s Grandmother Millie Pennington) on Bishopthorpe Road is opened

2012: The wholesale business outgrows its premises and is moved to a new temperature-controlled unit on James St, York

2012: The stall on York market closes down after 90 years.

■ For more information visit: www.milliesyork.uk or for more details on Simon Baynes Wholesale go to: www.simonbaynes.net