15 Of The Best Bakeries In London
Photography: SIMONE ANNE/ STOCKSY UNITED
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15 Of The Best Bakeries In London

Not a weekend goes by when Instagram feeds aren’t filled with pretty pastries procured from some of the capital’s most-loved destination bakeries. From sourdough to cinnamon buns, here are 15 of the best places in London to get your fix.
By Heather Steele /
Photography: SIMONE ANNE/ STOCKSY UNITED
Pophams
Pophams

Rose Bakery

In the chic environs of Dover Street Market, Rose Bakery is a cool, minimalist haunt that serves refined teas, inventive savoury dishes and delicious cakes. Owned by husband-and-wife team Rose and Jean, it offers the likes of hazelnut and courgette soup; Burmese cod with savoy cabbage, radish and ginger; followed by a homemade gelato and sorbet selection. Make sure to grab one of the team’s signature loaf cakes on the way out, which are so popular they’re now available for click and collect (we’d go for the rose, almond and lemon flavour).

18-22 Haymarket, St James’s, SW1Y 4DG

Visit RoseBakeryLondon.com

Fabrique Bakery

Fabrique is a collection of stone-oven focused bakeries from Stockholm, Sweden. After successfully opening 19 shops back home, the team turned its attention to London, where it now has six locations, from Shoreditch to Notting Hill – plus one in New York. Alongside excellent sourdough and the obligatory cinnamon buns, this is also a great place for coffee and cake.

Various locations

Visit Fabrique.co.uk

The Dusty Knuckle

Tucked away behind Dalston Junction station in a sunny courtyard, The Dusty Knuckle serves some of the best food in the area, and at great value. Predominantly offering pastries and bread, you can also order the likes of roasted beetroot, whipped goat’s cheese, toasted seed mix and salsa verde served in focaccia sourdough. Want to learn how to make your own? The Dusty Knuckle Bakery School hosts a selection of masterclasses – and you’ll go home with a goody bag including a dough scraper, recipe pack and some of The Dusty Knuckle’s sourdough starter so you can recreate fresh loaves at home.

Abbot Street, Dalston, E8 3DP

Visit TheDustyKnuckle.com

Flor

Borough restaurant Flor has relocated to Bermondsey where you can shop for baked goods and artisan wines. Using flours milled on site, the Flor team bakes different loaves each morning, so there’s always something new on offer, from sourdoughs and rye bread to a signature ‘Baker’s Choice’ made from organic wheat, wholegrain barley, spelt, rye and flaked grain porridge. Make a beeline for the bakery on Saturday morning for buttery croissants, twice-baked almond croissants, brown butter cakes, lardy buns and Danish pastries.

Bermondsey Spa Terminus, Bermondsey, SE16 4RP

Visit Flor-Bakery.com

Pophams

An Islington institution, Pophams redefines the traditional bakery and coffee shop with pastries full of unusual flavour combinations. Now with a second site in Hackney and a third on the way in Victoria, the group offers the likes of danishes filled with coconut custard and raspberry, or nectarine and ginger custard. On the savoury front, we’re huge fans of the Marmite and cheese swirls. Excellent coffee comes from local roaster Ozone. 

19 Prebend Street, Islington, N1 8PF; and 197 Richmond Road, Hackney, E8 3NJ

Visit PophamsBakery.com

Sourdough Sophia

Sourdough Sophia was born in lockdown. Husband-and-wife team Sophia and Jesse supported their Crouch End community by baking sourdough bread and more in their dining room, then delivering it all by bike to those in need. Now with a proper shop in town, the pair specialises in sourdough using organic ,locally grown milled grains and ancient methods of fermentation, alongside intricately layered viennoiserie, cakes and brownies.

24 Middle Lane, Crouch End, N8 8PL

Visit SourdoughSophia.co.uk

Libby’s

Libby's bakery and café quietly opened in Notting Hill last October and has steadily achieved cult status among locals. The selling point? All its products are sugar and gluten free. Masterchef: The Professionals winner Keri Moss leads a team that spent over a year developing and honing recipes for a range of products that not only taste good, but replace sugar with more nutrient-dense alternatives. We love the look of the bagels, apple crumble traybake and sourdough, which comes ready to be finished in the oven at home.

61 Ledbury Road, Notting Hill, W11 2AA

Visit Libbys.co

E5 Bakehouse
E5 Bakehouse
Pophams
Pophams

E5 Bakehouse

E5 Bakehouse is an east London artisan bakery and coffee shop, with a focus on sourdough. Using organic, locally sourced ingredients, the team serves daily baked breads, fresh lunches, homemade cakes (the bakewell tart is to die for) and coffee from its own roast house. Inspired? Once a week, the head bakers share their knowledge and expertise in a weekly bread course – make sure to book ahead.

395 Mentmore Terrace, London Fields, E8 3PH

Visit E5Bakehouse.com

Jolene

The team behind Westerns Laundry and Primeur opened popular bakery Jolene in Newington Green in 2018. A bakery by day, on Thursdays to Sundays Jolene transforms into a restaurant, serving up simple plates for dinner, using vegetables from Flourish farm in Cambridge, fish from day boats in Cornwall and Devon, and meat from a farming collective in North Yorkshire. Jolene now has further outposts in Shoreditch, Islington and Hornsey, and when it comes to the baked goods make sure to order one of its filled croissants, cardamon buns or lemon tarts.

Various locations

Visit JoleneN16.com

Kova Patisserie

This upmarket patisserie serves Japanese treats, alongside organic teas and Insta-worthy matcha lattes. Offering Londoners the chance to taste and experience the latest café culture from East Asia, Kova’s most popular dishes include mille crêpes (multiple layers of French crêpes with a light custard cream filling between each layer), sea salt lava cheese gateaux and matcha roll cakes. Originally launching in Soho, Kova has added locations in Chinatown, South Kensington and Battersea Power Station.

Various locations

Visit KovaPatisserie.com

Ole & Steen

Proving once more that Londoners can’t get enough of Nordic goods, Ole & Steen arrived in late-2016 with an all-day menu that celebrates the best of Denmark. Serving Danes delicious breads and pastries for over 20 years, its London bakeries (found everywhere from St James’s Market to Canary Wharf) offer everything from morning porridge to blueberry pie. SL’s favourite? The peanut pie slice.

Various locations

Visit OleAndSteen.co.uk

St John Bakery

From the team behind acclaimed nose-to-tail restaurant St John is a collection of bakeries. Its first – located in Neal’s Yard – serves up fresh sourdough, raisin and rye loaves, delicious doughnuts, morning pastries and afternoon eccles cakes. A second space in an arch in Bermondsey creates all the bread and pastries for the group’s restaurants – and others’ – but its shutters open daily for locals to grab one of the famous doughnuts or a loaf of sourdough.

3 Neal's Yard, Covent Garden, WC2H 9DP; and 72 Druid Street, Bermondsey, SE1 2HQ 

Visit StJohnRestaurant.com

Buhler and Co

This bright neighbourhood spot in Walthamstow brings together myriad local suppliers to create a top-notch place to relax with a coffee: SL favourite Climpson & Sons supplies the java; milk comes from The Estate Dairy; Seven Seeded bakes its bread; sodas come from Square Roots; Chegworth Valley and Moju drop off their juices; and Howling Hops is in the beer fridge. Food across the board has a global influence (from bao to tacos), but we’re particular fans of its breakfast bagel.

8 Chingford Road, Walthamstow, E17 4PJ

Visit BuhlerAndCo.com

Flor
Flor
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