Slinging sausage rolls as Storm Eowyn rages: Traditional Belfast bakery one of the city's few businesses to brave hurricane force winds

Peter Gibson kept his bakery on the city’s Woodstock Road open as most of the province shut down, slinging hot sausage rolls and tasty pastry treats to eager customers.

"I’ve not missed a day’s work in 40-odd years,” he said, “and I wasn’t going to begin now.”

Started by Peter’s parents, the family-run Gibson’s Home Bakery has served up traditional fare to the Woodstock area since the 1950s.

After that long, he didn’t want something as minor as 90mph winds from a red alert storm to force him to close his shutters.

"We have our regular Friday customers, such as a couple of women who come in and would spend about £50 to £60 on cakes and apple tarts, and I wouldn’t want to disappoint them,” says Peter.

“It has been slower than normal for a Friday, but we’re ticking over quite nicely.

"It probably helps that everywhere else is closed; all the convenience stores in the area are shut, for example, and even the big Tesco near here isn’t open.”

Woodstock Road didn’t escape the storm unscathed; a hoarding from a disused shop near Gibson’s Home Bakery was ripped down and blown into the street, while masonry from some corner buildings scattered the pavement.

And the area, normally a busy commuter route into the city centre, was almost devoid of traffic, even during the morning rush hour.

Peter told the News Letter: “I’ve been here since 2am getting ready, and while I was baking upstairs I was worried the windows were going to come in.

"Thankfully, we appear to have avoided the worst of it; it’s been a wild one all morning, but the shop hasn’t been too badly affected.

"I have a wee girl who usually works with me on Fridays, I’ve given her the day off. I didn’t want her risking coming in, given how bad it was; also, all the schools are closed, and it’s hard for parents to find childcare at the best of times, let alone when there’s no notice.”

Despite the wind, Peter says he didn’t think twice about opening: “You come in and you just get on with it, that’s all there is to it.”