THIS week the Pepperpot Magazine visited the village of Plaisance, East Coast Demerara. The busy community is located a mere10 minutes’ drive from the city and is sandwiched between Better Hope and Goedverwagting.
Plaisance was bought by 65 ex-slaves who pooled their monies and purchased the land for $39,000 form their French masters. Plaisance is French and it means ‘pleasure or delight’ and the name was given to the village in the early 1800s by the then French owners who grew cotton. Back then it was known as Plantation Cotton.
Plaisance is the home of musical icon Eddy Grant, Caribbean Jurist Desiree Bernard, boxer Wayne ‘Big Truck’ Braithwaite among other influential people.
Plaisance is where the well-known ‘passa passa’ dance gained prominence locally as persons would gather on the Railway Embankment (Line Top) at the traditional ‘Thursday Night’ lime.
Usually the lime is centered at the Guinness Bar and its environs and the party would start around midnight and go almost to daybreak.
Plaisance is home to several hundreds of people, who are cops, nurses, skilled workers among others and it is the place of many shops, food stalls that line the roadside.
The community has schools, good major roads, adequate drainage and several churches.
Sam’s Bakery, here for the long haul
Among the many longstanding businesses in the community is Sam’s Bakery located at Prince William Street. It is owned by 89-year-old John Sam and has been a family business for three generations and was one of the first bakeries to produce barley loaves, bread, tennis rolls and pastries.
The ailing Sam told the Pepperpot Magazine that the business started with his brother in 1980 at the same location. He added that when he came back to his homeland and his birth village, Plaisance in 1987 he took over the operations when his sibling passed away in 2002.
Sam said his health is not what it used to be and he is forced to be in bed most of the time because of unbearable joint pains.
The father of two reported that the bakery is being managed by his daughter and her fiancé and they still produce fresh bread, tennis rolls and pastries on a daily basis.
He stated that Sam’s bakery has been able to retain their wholesalers and they have special baking days and opens from Monday to Saturday.
Sam’s Bakery provides employment for four villagers. This business has survived the test of time. As a little girl growing up in Better Hope, a few corners from the bakery, I remember it was the top bakery in the neighbourhood and we used to visit the place to make purchases almost every day.
The black cake was really nice not forgetting the cheesiest cheese roll among other pastries and flour-based products.
“I spent many years building this business and it will stand as long as it can because it is a family tradition for the Sam’s,” he said.
He added that Sam’s Bakery is here to stay and it will provide the best flour-based products villagers are accustomed to.
