Sales rise as Bread brings in the dough

Sales of bread makers shot up following the first episode of Paul Hollywood’s Bread which aired on BBC2 on Monday night, according to John Lewis.

Lucy O’Brien, assistant buyer for small electrical appliances at John Lewis, said: “Sales of bread makers are up 132 per cent at John Lewis, with bread-making accessories up 60 per cent year on year.

“And with the new Paul Hollywood bread-making programme on our screens, we expect these figures to continue to rise.”

She said the increase was part of a trend in consumer behaviour being driven by the popularity of TV cookery shows.

“With cookery shows inspiring more customers to bake at home, sales of bread makers, stand mixers and food processors, are increasing dramatically,” she said.

Hollywood promises to show viewers “how even the most humble loaf can be transformed into delicious dishes for breakfast, dinner and tea,” according to the BBC website.

A spokeswoman for Bread said: “The show peaked at three million viewers – and remember we are up against Coronation Street which is performing very well at the moment.

“I think the main thing is that it is encouraging people to make bread.

“You always hope that that will be the outcome, that people will try it and find out it’s not as difficult as it looks.”

A bread maker typically costs between £35 and £189.

Episode two of the programme will be shown next Monday at 8.30pm.

Sales of baking equipment at Currys also went up over the past week.

A spokesman for the company said: “I can confirm that sales of bread makers at Currys are up 30 per cent year-on-year since last Friday.”

And stand mixers such as Kitchenaids and Kenwood K-Mix Mixers went up by 40 per cent, he said.