Senner’s is ready for Hot Cross Bun Day

Some 7,000 hot cross buns are baked on Good Friday and the total for the Easter period is double that. The bakery is now much better kitted out to make the buns in larger numbers than in years gone by.

‘When I started working for my dad people would be queuing along the pavement at La Route des Camps on Hot Cross Bun Day and there was a real family atmosphere,’ said owner Martin Senner.

‘I remember having to go outside and shout down the line to say that the next buns would be out of the oven in about 10 minutes.’

There was no secret recipe, they were basically currant buns with more fruit and spice in and with a cross on top, but still a key part of Easter for many.

‘When I worked for my dad we would make Easter simnel cakes, which were fruit cakes with marzipan, but we haven’t done it since I’ve been running the business.’

The Senner family has been supplying islanders with hot cross buns for four generations.

Mr Senner said his great-grandfather had started the business in Vauvert in 1884.

The Thursday before Easter was always known as Hot Cross Bun Day as the bakery did not open on Good Friday. When Mr Senner took the business over from father, Brian, in 1987, it moved to its current premises at La Route des Camps, St Martin’s, from the building next door which is now Saffron restaurant.

‘It was two weeks before Easter and it meant we hadn’t had the time to bake enough hot cross buns,’ he said.

‘My father suggested that we open on Good Friday, even though he had never done it himself, and we’ve done that ever since.’

People were still keen to get their hot cross buns almost straight from the oven, which was why Mr Senner said business was traditionally brisk on Good Friday.