New Hovis Bread Ad – 122 Years of History

As I’ve mentioned before, Shaftesbury, Dorset is my favorite place in the UK. While many people probably haven’t heard of it, it’s actually rather famous, as far as small English Villages go.

It was made famous in the 1970′s by an ad that was directed by the great Ridley Scott, depicting a boy riding a bicycle full of bread up Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, Dorset. It is widely considered to be Britain’s best commercial.

Check out the Gold Hill Hovis Bread Commercial Below

It was rather a mystery for a while as to where the village was. To quote a kind old lady we met on our first trip there, she said “We all thought it was in Yorkshire.”

Now, Shaftesbury is a now small tourist attraction because of Gold Hill and the village celebrates this heritage. I discovered the place when I bought a poster many many years ago. I just thought it was a pretty picture. After I looked at it long enough, it became my dream to go there. So, I found out where the place was and in 2004 visited for the first time with my wife (then girlfriend). I consider it one of the happiest days of my life. We’ve been there three times now.

Anyway, I wrote all this up because Hovis Bread has released a new big budget ad that tells the last 122 years of British history, the same amount of time the bread has been around. It’s a pretty impressive commercial and quite worth a view. It’s like a miniature movie. Hovis Bread is to Britain what Wonder Bread is to the USA.