Trade Names: It's the best bakery in Ireland, say some, but Griffin's of Galway has a long and proud 129-year history, Rose Doyle reports

Griffin's Bakery, on the appropriately named Shop Street in Galway, is where more than half the city, most of the county and many from the islands, go for a healthy carbohydrate fix.

It's where they've been buying good bread in variety for 129 years now, from a range which has grown from soda bread basics to dietary, rye and spelt breads.

Griffins served their parents' grandparents well, has earned itself a fiercely protective loyalty and is without doubt a favourite among institutions in the City of the Tribes.

Jimmy Griffin is in charge of things these days. He's the fourth generation to do so and he's an engaging and amazingly youthful looking 40 years old. Is it the bread or the genes, you wonder? Or something in the genes put there by the bread? A bit of both, most likely, together with the fact that he loves what he does, where he does it and Griffin's customers.

Griffin's began life in 1876 when Jimmy Griffin's great grandfather, John Griffin, set up a mainly wholesale bakery in Cross Street, Galway. Busker Brown's pub is there now but, back then, it was the place to go for the first machine bread in Galway.

"He used deliver bread all over the place by horse and cart," Jimmy says, "as well as to the British Army barracks. We still use some of the recipes and, though a lot of things have changed, the basics like flour, yeast, salt and buttermilk never did."

He's quite carried away by enthusiasm for it all, asks if I know that caraway seeds and yellow meal used be staples, tells me that "in America, when you go looking for Irish soda bread, you get it with caraway seeds and raisins even though you can't get caraway seeds in Ireland today".

John Griffin had probably been a journeyman baker but his son, Matthew, moved no further than nearby Shop Street when he set up on his own in 1876. He married Maggie Hynes, who was 20 years younger than him, and they had three children; Anthony, Olga and Grace, who died. Small and welcoming in Matthew and Maggie's time, the Shop Street shop hasn't changed much.

"He ran it himself, with Maggie, until he died in the 1950s," Jimmy says. "I never got to know either of my grandfathers, which is something I've always regretted. For a long time in Galway there were two Griffin businesses, the wholesale in Cross Street and retail in Shop Street."

Anthony Griffin, in time, took over the shop with his wife, Eithne; Jimmy is the middle one of their three sons. "That was back in the early 1960s," Jimmy explains, "and my mother had to give up her job in Galway County Council when she married. They were a wonderful partnership. Both of them still come into the shop every day - to make an appearance and help out. They like to feel a part of things."

They were ideally suited to working together, Jimmy says, with Matthew Griffin and his father, John, working in the bakery and background; Eitnne, the front line person looking after the shop and customers. Her son describes her as a "very personable character".

Jimmy and his brothers were "always involved as kids. We got caught for jobs like topping and tailing currants, fruit and berries, packing at Christmas time, chopping rhubarb for tarts. I wasn't a natural cook as a child; I made shortbread pastry that broke my father's teeth!"

He has other memories too: of Aran islanders coming to shop. "You'd know an Aran man or woman then by their clothing. Now you'd only know them when they start speaking! We've still got a great following of Aran customers. They phone through orders and we send it out to the islands on Aer Arann."

His older brother, David, lives and works in Australia, his younger brother, Mark, is a research scientist in London.

During his Leaving Cert year Jimmy Griffin was called on to help out in the bakery. He liked it enough to go on to spend three years working on a diploma in bakery management in Dublin's Kevin Street College of Technology. Baking was very much a part of a course which also included food science, happily grist to his mill.

With his diploma in his pocket, Jimmy Griffin took off to work in the US. "I came home for my parents' 25th wedding anniversary, supposedly to allow them to get away for a holiday," he grins. "I never went back."

There's a fifth generation involvement in the business now, with Jimmy's son, Dylan (eight) and daughter, Janice (seven), spending afternoons in Shop Street and are fond of such perennial treats as gingerbread men. Jimmy's a baker/confectioner himself, and regrets that he doesn't get as many opportunities to design cakes as he used to but talks animatedly about bread through the years.

Baking trends in Ireland mirrored, he says, "what was going on elsewhere. Apart from soda bread, which is unique to this island and Scotland, we more or less followed English trends. As technology improved, we embraced all they were doing and swung from making lots of soda and yeast bread and scones to making the pan breads that we have today.

"As the culture of sandwiches grew so did our bread-making style."

He thinks the country has lost a lot "to modern day living. As a child growing up, my mother would bake at home but people don't do that any more, they've no time. Now they come to people like ourselves." He's not complaining, merely observing.

Old companies survive and succeed for a reason. With Griffin's it's tradition mixed with diversity.

Jimmy Griffin is sure of this. "We've moved from horse and cart deliveries to where, today, we take e-mail orders for birthday cakes. Also, we've only the one shop and the baking still goes on at the back. People have been made aware of the harm done by additives in food so we started to develop our breads with an eye to dietary requirements, too.

"I was selected and went to the European Bakery Championships about 10 years ago and came across spelt bread. Spelt is a very old cereal, high in gliadin - a soluble protein - and low in gluton. We began using it, as well as making rye breads and different kinds of dairy and wheat-free bread."

This was not, he stresses, a break with tradition.

"Griffin's has always moved with the times, always had a policy against using additives or chemical improvers. It would be like throwing chemicals into a good bottle of wine! Basically, a good dough should be allowed good fermentation."

He's fortunate, he says, to have a great staff - 27 of them between full and part-time - and is adamant that "all of Griffin's success is down to the people working for us. They give their best to the job, a personal service to customers. That's what people like."

He admits that taking part in the European Bakery Championships has helped expand the Griffin's view of baking. "We've won three bronze and one silver medal in the last four years," he says, "and I'm now the Irish judge". The Bridgestone Guide named them the best bakery in Ireland in 2005.

Griffins opens Monday to Saturday, 8am to 6pm and, for four years now, a ticket system of service ensures customers get served in order. "Those in the know select a ticket," Jimmy says, "go to the market and come back to buy their bread and cakes!"

Those in the know buy brown soda bread, olive, rye, spelt and ciabatta breads, and apple tarts to die for.

Galwegians appreciate a good thing on their doorstep.