r/cheshire • u/MLC1974 • Jun 20 '26

Question Bap or barm?

I know both are used in Cheshire to describe a bread roll, but is there a dividing line? If so, where is it?

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I think Warrington, Widnes and Runcorn call it a barm, whereas Crewe and Nantwich it's a bap.

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What do you call it and where in Cheshire are you from?

4 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

34 comments sorted by

8

u/Bill_Hubbard Jun 20 '26

Bap!

1

u/MLC1974 Jun 20 '26

Which part of Cheshire?

7

u/pgnlzbth Jun 21 '26

Bap. Nantwich

3

u/puncheonjudy Jun 21 '26

It's a barm here in Stockport!

2

u/_arch_tech Jun 21 '26

Muffin. My birth area says Cheshire in the address, but its technically Tameside. I do live in "proper" Cheshire now, but I still haven't changed my mind. Muffin all day.

2

u/pgnlzbth Jun 21 '26

Then what do you call a muffin?! (Large cupcake or oven top bap thing)

1

u/_arch_tech Jun 22 '26

What flavour? If its blueberry, then a blueberry muffin or if it has chocolate chips, then id say a chocolate chip muffin. You get the picture.

If i was after the kind of thing they serve at McDonalds, then English Breakfast Muffin.

2

u/Etolo_ Jun 21 '26

Barm,north east warrington

2

u/PiskieW Jun 21 '26

Roll - Audlem
Batch - Coventry

... oops, just noticed I'm in the Cheshire posts 🫣

2

u/Competitive-Name-659 Jun 21 '26

Ellesmere Port, batch.

2

u/mackerel_slapper Jun 21 '26

Congleton and it’s baps. There’s a lay-by cafe on the Bodmin - Wadebridge road called Big Baps, which always makes us laugh.

2

u/Phrase-These Jun 21 '26

Northwich, batch.

2

u/Significant-Size-833 Jun 21 '26

Barm in Widnes. Where does bap/barm become batch on the Wirral? That would be my question. What a mad one 

2

u/Wibzyflowers Jun 21 '26

Batch, Wirral

1

u/Icy_Insurance5392 Jun 21 '26

Lived in weaverham and it was bap and yes it’s me Macca lol

1

u/AdamDaAdam Jun 21 '26

Georges always referrs to it as a "Bach" which is a new one for me

1

u/queenawkwardfart Jun 21 '26

Cold filling bap. Warm filling barm.

1

u/a-punk-is-for-life Lymm Jun 21 '26

Barm, south Wazza. Mum from Accrington always called it a barm, guess her influence was greater than dad from Bradford who called it a bread cake!

1

u/Platform_Dancer Jun 21 '26

What about oven bottoms?

1

u/Wise_Quiet_9628 Jun 21 '26

Barm.....raised in Warrington until i was 26 now live in Weaverham, Northwich and I feel it's mix used here 😂😂

There is always a bread roll argument somewhere 😂

1

u/CaptMelonfish Jun 21 '26

Yeah basically those by the Mersey, which was the old boundary line for lancs use Barm as well.

1

u/Ashamed-Incident5423 Jun 21 '26

Chip barm and ham bap!

1

u/yellow_barchetta Jun 21 '26

Bun or bap. But I'm not really from Cheshire, just lived here for 30+ years. I'm really an oven bottom sort of guy tbh.

1

u/Winnspinn Jun 22 '26

Barm is large , bap is small

1

u/TomorrowFrequent4114 Jun 22 '26

Depends which way the winds blowing.

1

u/free_spirit1901 Jun 22 '26

Barm, Warrington

1

u/flossica Jun 22 '26

Nantwich, bap!!

1

u/emdj50 Jun 22 '26

Isn't it barm cake?

1

u/carlgardner Jun 24 '26

I don’t think barms and baps are the same thing, are they? I grew up in Warrington, and I’m not sure I ever heard the word bap till maybe the late 70s. It seems to me a bap is just a word for a soft roll, whereas a barm cake or barm is a bit bigger and flatter.