I wonder if when the family building firm, the Hainsworths, built number 23 Bridge Street in the early 19th century, they did so with a bakery in mind, fitting it out with a state-of-the-art separate brick-built oven to avoid the need to bake bread directly on the hearth or amongst the embers. The Hainsworths themselves lived in the street and would have known the Tomlin family well. The Tomlins were big on baking and milling in the Deepings, owning the tower mill in Broadgate Lane and the post mill on Spalding Road.

Thomas Tomlin was likely to have been the first in with his nephew Tobias (1788-1856) taking over in 1830. Tobias had been apprenticed to the shoemaker (cordwainer) Thomas Broom in Deeping Gate but he wanted to follow in the tradition of his family and opened his own bakery shop in Market Deeping. This was before he married Rebecca Bolland at the Priory Church in 1817. The couple had several children before they moved to Bridge Street: Tobias (1818-1890), Henry (1819-1835), Thomas (1820-1892) Robert (1822-1900), Alvin (1825-1865) and William (1827-1916). Only Mary (1831-1867) was born after the move. This proved successful for Tobias and Rebecca whose business flourished, and by the time of the 1851 Census they had 22 acres and had added a grocery to the bakery store. Tobias junior had married Elizabeth née Smith in Peakirk in 1847 and they made their home in Bridge Street with their parents, no doubt helping to tun this thriving business. The couple went on to have eight children in total but in 1851 it was Hannah (1848-) Mary-Ann (1849-1902) and Henry (1850-1942) who were at home, Elizabeth being pregnant with her fourth child Sarah who was born later that year.