British migrant Percy John Hide arrived in Australia in 1912 and found work in a Kilmore bakery where he undertook an apprenticeship.

After two years learning his trade he took the difficult decision to enlist in the AIF, where he served as a cook until 1920.

When he returned from war he settled in the quaint north-east Victorian town of Benalla, where he would meet his bride-to-be Florence Ethel Brown. Having arrived in town, Percy found work at the Berri family bakery in Carrier St.

It was there that he fell back in love with baking and started to harbour ambitions of owning his own business one day.

After Percy and Florence married, they made the decision to relocate to Heathcote where they started a family.

Kevin, Bernie and Frank were born in 1924, 1926 and 1928 respectively. With a young family and a drawer full of recipes, in 1929 the couple took the opportunity to move to Wodonga where they opened their first bakery – Hides.

For the next few years it was the go-to-bakery in the border town.

However, with Australia becoming increasingly involved in World War Two, the couple began to struggle to keep enough staff – including their son Kevin who enlisted and headed to Europe like many young Victorians at the time. After the elation of welcoming Kevin home from war the couple took stock of their situation,

They wanted Hides to be a bakery that could be handed down to the next generation – and both missed Benalla.

Percy knew about a commercial property which was for sale in Bridge St, so the family packed up their home and business and headed south. The newly acquired property was a small shop-front with room for a commercial bakery next door.

That building is still the location of Hides Bakery today. When Percy and Florence Hide decided to establish a business that could be passed down to their children, they could only have dreamed that 90 years later their grandsons Stephen and Philip would be there baking and serving customers.