From freshly baked sourdough to Scandi-style rye bread, we share our favourite artisan bakeries in London.
E5 BAKEHOUSE E8
Artisan bakery and coffee shop, E5 Bakehouse uses organic, locally sourced ingredients to create cakes and breads. The Hackney Wild is one of its most popular loaves, with a chewy, moist crumb and a mildly sour flavour.
395 Mentmore Terrace, E8 3PH, e5bakehouse.com
Image above: E5 Bakehouse
BREAD AHEAD SE1
Founded in 2013, Bread Ahead is a staple of Borough Market, supplying fresh loaves daily to locals and tourists. They opened their Bakery School in 2014, offering baking workshops, and new shops in Chelsea and Soho soon followed.
Cathedral Street, SE1 9DE, breadahead.com
BALTHAZAR BOULANGERIE WC2
Balthazar Boulangerie is located next door to the famous restaurant of the same name, offering a more informal selection of artisan breads, homemade pastries, salads and sandwiches. Every item is made in-house.
4 Russell Street, WC2B 5HZ, balthazarlondon.com
L’ETO CAFFE W1
Whether you are feasting your eyes on L’eto’s famous cake display or ordering personalised cakes online, the food this Mayfair bakery creates is both pretty and delicious.
46 Shepherd Market, W1J 7QS, letocaffe.co.uk
CUTTER & SQUIDGE W1
Cutter & Squidge’s aim is to invent new products, such as their Biskies, or recreate classics, experimenting with flavours.
20 Brewer Street, W1F 0SJ, cutterandsquidge.com
Image above: Cutter & Squidge
ST JOHN BAKERY SE1
With doughnuts, pastries, Eccles cakes, sourdoughs and raisin loaves, St John Bakery, part of the well-known restaurant group, serves delicious sandwiches on their own bread every weekend.
72 Druid Street, SE1 2HQ, cutterandsquidge.com
THE OLD POST OFFICE SW9
Set up in Clapham in the early 1980s as one of the first organic bakeries in London, The Old Post Office can now also be found in Marylebone and Queen's Park on the weekend and Bloomsbury every Thursday. Pop by for sweet or savoury pastries.
76 Landor Road, SW9 9PH, oldpostofficebakery.co.uk
PRINCI W1
Rocco Princi started making bread in Italy in 1985 - artisanally, by hand. The bakery is obsessed with perfection, so Rocco travels through Italy to befriend artisan butchers, farmers and cheesemakers, to make the perfect complimentary bread.
135 Wardour Street, W1F 0UT, princi.com
NORDIC BAKERY W1
Scandi-style café Nordic Bakery serves delicious savoury products, specialising in dark rye bread, and moreish cinnamon buns.
14A Golden Square, W1F 9JG, nordicbakery.com
Image above: Nordic Bakery
POILÂNE SW3
The world-famous Poilâne bakery was founded in 1932 in Paris. Since 2000, Londoners have enjoyed the bakery’s old-style, handmade, thick-crusted, sourdough bread, freshly baked daily on the premises in both Chelsea and Belgravia.
39 Cadogan Gardens, SW3 2TB, poilane.com
DOMINIQUE ANSEL SW1
Original home of the Cronut, Dominique Ansel’s London bakery is in Belgravia. With open kitchens and a quaint enclosed garden, the pastry chefs believe in creative baking, serving up treats such as Welsh rarebit croissants and Irish cream macarons.
17 Elizabeth Street, SW1W 9RPL, dominiqueansellondon.com
BRICK HOUSE SE22
Award-winning Brick House specialises in slow fermentation sourdough breads, made using traditional methods and just a few simple ingredients. On Sundays, staff run bread classes at the bakery in East Dulwich.
1 Zenoria Street, SE22 8HP, brickhousebread.com
Image above: Brick House