The best bakeries in London

What is it? The best beignets in Bloomsbury (and beyond), plus all manner of other pastry delights.

Why we love it: If you want to truly experience Fortitude Bakery, get there as close to 11am as you can: that’s when their signature beignets arrive, and they don’t last long. Recent iterations of the doughnut-adjacent delight have included snickerdoodle (baked apple, cinnamon cream and biscuit), mocha with cherry, raspberry, vanilla and pistachio. Form an orderly queue. Dee Rettali heads up the kitchen, and her obsession with the flavours of Marrakech also set this pastry paradise apart, with harissa meatball baguettes and a Berber omelette on batbout - a Moroccan pita bread - previously featuring on their ever-changing menu.

Order this: It would be rude not to order a beignet, but Fortitude are also impressively experimental elsewhere. Pizza danish, anyone?

Address: 35 Colonnade, Bloomsbury, WC1N 1JD.

Opening hours: Mon-Fri 7.30am-4pm, Sat-Sun 8.30am-4pm.

What is it? A Filipino bakery from the creators of Donia and Mamasons ice cream parlour.

Why we love it: The seriously good Soho flagship of this creative, Manila-indebted bakery (there’s a smaller outpost in Marylebone) offers a fresh perspective within London’s dough scene. They serve all manner of treats, from pistachio pandesal - soft fluffy rolls filled with pistachio creme and topped with lashings of crushed nuts - to doughnuts pumped full of photogenic purple ube ooze. Their drinks list gives the current matcha takeover a twist, with ube versions lining up alongside pandan-flavoured iced delights, while their pandesal sandos are also a must-nibble, from the classic Filipino flavours of a hearty corned beef hash offering to panko-crusted aubergine for the vegetarians.

Order this: Sturdy and pleasingly square, Panadera’s ube toast sando mixes their two most notable offerings into one very excellent lunch.

Address: 3 Hopkins Street, Soho, W1F 0HS.

Opening hours: Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat-Sun 10.30am-6.30pm.

What is it? An inventive pastry HQ, down an unassuming Camberwell street. 

Why we love it: Wander down Peckham Road of a Saturday and you'll see a long, orderly line of chic pastry obsessives queuing for immaculately laminated wares. Toad’s menu has a few permanent staples - chocolatines, cinnamon buns, and sweet and savoury danishes - but part of the joy is the ever-changing line-up of pastries, constantly being handed fresh out of the oven and onto the counter. Their cornbread croissants - gorgeously buttery layers wrapped around a delectable mix of polenta, corn, cheddar and jalapeno - are a revelation, while other recent favourites have included autumnal apple cinnamon brioche, pecan caramel whips (a croissant-based tribute to a Walnut Whip), and a black sesame and white chocolate suisse. Toad also sells loaves and baguettes.

Order this: Cornbread croissant for savoury; danish for sweet. Ours is an apple, custard and miso caramel version.

Address: 44 Peckham Road, Camberwell, SE5 8PX.

Opening hours: Tue-Sat 8am-3pm.

What is it? Top tier naans at knockdown prices.

Why we love it: For years, Blackstock Road was merely a funnel for fans heading to Arsenal’s old Highbury stadium, but now it’s a proper thriving street with shops, cafés, delis and this incredible outlet. A local institution, Baban’s specialises in naan breads at bargain prices – although the results are more like flatbreads than the puffed-up tandoori versions you find in every curry house. Turn them into a wrap, filled with falafel or a kurdish mince kebab, or just embrace their different flavours such as cheese, sesame, za’atar, garlic or peshwari. A trio of plain, pakistani or barley naans will set you back a mere £1.50.

Order this: For a cheap lunch, you won’t find much better value than their Kurdish wrap: loaded with veg and sauce, and costing only a smidge more than a fiver.

Address: 51a Blackstock Road, Finsbury Park, N4 2JW.

Opening hours: Daily 10am-8pm.

What is it? Superlative loaves and sarnies, with a café space to dine in.

Why we love it: Found in an airy brick-and-steel café/shop across from its original shipping container home in a Dalston industrial yard, The Dusty Knuckle has ascended to legendary status for sourdough-loving Londoners. Racks of loaves (including rye and an excellent potato sourdough) line the walls, while the counter is piled up with glistening sticky buns, croissants, chocolate and fruit brioches, apple turnovers and savoury bakes. Their café serves breakfast focaccias and packed sarnies with imaginative fillings - autumnal options include green bean, whipped feta and spiced tomato, or tamarind braised pork. Plus, The Dusty Knuckle’s owners also have a social conscience, employing and training up young people who have struggled to find work or have been in trouble with the law. There’s also an outpost on Green Lanes in Haringey. 

Order this: Their sourdough sarnie menu regularly changes, so snap up their specials before they’re gone. 

Address: Abbot Street, Dalston, E8 3DP.

Opening hours: Daily 8am-3.30pm.

What is it? Sweet and savoury buns, infused with the flavours of baker Sara Assad-Manning’s Palestinian heritage.

Why we love it: The bricks and mortar debut for self-taught baker Sara Assad-Manning, Bunhead brings the flavours of Palestine to Herne Hill, with queues of people waiting for her hunks of sticky bread. For the sweet-toothed, there are pink-glazed rose and cardamom swirls and a juicy baklava-esque take on proceedings, while savoury options include a ‘salty’ bun stuffed with zingy za’atar and crumbles of feta, or cheddar and shatta - a garlicky hot sauce. As well as buns, they sell cakes, cookies, focaccia and hefty, packed sandwiches. Keep an eye out for collabs too: Bunhead recently teamed up with star pizza throwers Dough Hands for a limited edition spiced chicken special.

Order this: If it’s on the menu, plump for a bun inspired by the Palestinian pudding knafeh, drenched with syrup and studded with wisps of shredded phyllo and rose petals. Gorgeous.

Address: 145 Dulwich Road, Herne Hill, SE24 0NG.

Opening hours: Thu-Fri 9am-4pm, Sat-Sun 10am-4pm.

What is it? A small bakery on Ridley Road that specialises in naan-style flatbreads. Excellent prices, incredible flavour.

Why we love it: It may be little more than a hole-in-the-wall, but Ararat’s Middle Eastern-style flatbreads are the stuff of legend and find their way into countless restaurants and shops across town, including the nearby likes of Acme Fire Cult. The action centres around a huge rotating oven and a trestle table where the naans are bagged up (hot ones are wrapped in paper, cold ones come in environmentally friendly plastic bags). You can buy them plain, although most people go for the versions topped with meat, cheese or egg; either way, they’re cheap as chips – but far more interesting.

Order this: Nab their hot meaty flatbread - Ararat’s most popular offering - for less than the price of a supermarket sandwich.

Address: 132 Ridley Road, Dalston, E8 2NR.

Opening hours: Sun-Fri 7am-6pm, Sat 7am-5pm.

What is it? Bread, bakes, and sell-out weekly sandwiches in Crystal Palace.

Why we love it: There’s always a queue outside Chatsworth Bakehouse, a stone’s throw down the hill from Crystal Palace Park’s famed dinosaurs. Rivalling the prehistoric creatures for the area’s most notable fixture since they opened their doors in 2021, Chatsworth have built a hefty reputation based on sourdough and porridge loaves, plus sweet treats including marshmallow-adorned cookies and basque cheesecake. Their sandwiches, however, are where it’s at. Available to pre-order only, they sell out within minutes of going online, with weekly specials like a recent marinated double mozzarella, spiced pineapple and chilli relish whopper announced at the start of the week. On Saturdays, they sell pizza slices, plus they’ve now expanded to a second shop a few doors down.

Order this: Sandwich pre-orders go online every Monday at 12.30pm. Don’t miss out.

Address: 120a Anerley Road, Crystal Palace, SE19 2AN.

Opening hours: Wed-Fri 12.30pm-4pm, Sat 11am-4pm.

What is it? A cult-worthy French-Asian bakery with branches on Mercer Street in Covent Garden and Duke Street in Marylebone.

Why we love it: Combining Parisian patisserie flair with gorge global flavours, there’s a reason that Arôme has become a firm favourite with pastry-loving Londoners. Brave the queues and stock up on housemade shokupan, sausage and cheese croissants with Japanese bbq sauce, tomato confit pain suisse and miso bacon escargot with spring onions and coriander. Intense? We wouldn't have it any other way.

Order this: Arôme’s egg custard tarts are simple but sensational - silky smooth and flaky in all the right places.

Address: 9 Mercer Street, Covent Garden, WC2H 9QJ.

Opening hours: Tue-Sat 8am-5pm, Sun 9am-4pm.

What is it? A hype-y bakery and brunch spot in Newington Green.

Why we love it: From the folks behind Primeur and Westerns Laundry, Jolene is a supremely beautiful warehouse-style space in a quiet spot opposite Newington Green. During the day it runs as a casual brunch restaurant with a top notch bakery counter that’s regularly loaded with everything from loaves and pastries to sausage rolls, palmiers, madeleines, croissants, financiers and much more besides. Come evening, the blackboards are wiped clean and replaced by a small-plates menu designed to show off the chef’s baking skills. Find more Jolene bakeries across North East London, on Redchurch Street, Colebrooke Row and Hornsey Road. 

Order this: Thick, moist cake wedges that’ll see you through the 3pm slump in style. Jolene tend to go fairly classic, from carrot to chocolate to a trad Viccy sponge.

Address: 21 Newington Green, N16 9PU.

Opening hours: Daily bakery hours 8am-4pm.

What is it? Superb Japanese patisserie, with a gleaming space in Ealing Broadway, plus branches in Marylebone and Covent Garden.

Why we love it: The Japanese have seriously embraced the art of French patisserie, and one of the best London spots to get your fix is surely WA Café. The Ealing outpost’s light, minimalist interior is dominated by two gleaming counters packed with pristine rows of all things baked: spirals of dark-green matcha tea sponge filled with whipped cream; perfectly presented mini pastry tarts; sweet buns filled with red bean paste or custard and so on. There are savoury offerings too, from breads topped with ham and cheese to deep-fried savoury doughnuts filled with delicately spiced vegetable curry – trust us, they’re delicious.

Order this: Matcha heads will be in their element here. You can get the green stuff infused in milk rolls and tea bread, flavouring a tiramisu, filling a mochi-like layered daifuku, and the list goes on…

Address: 32 Haven Green, Ealing, W5 2NX.

Opening hours: Mon-Fri 8am-6pm, Sat 8.30am-6pm, Sun 9.30am-6pm.

What is it? Classic, time-perfected bakes in a newly expanded Covent Garden venue.

Why we love it: Having opened their first permanent shop in Neal’s Yard, Seven Dials, St John Bakery have just upscaled their operation, moving across the road to a two-floor space with an alcohol license and food menu. The baked goods are still the stars though. Pick out some of their famed Eccles cakes, stock up on excellent sourdough, rye or raisin loaves to take home, or simply pig out on their granny-style bakes, which have evolved by fine-tuning 100-year-old recipes. They’ve now got other Bakery outposts in London Bridge, Borough, and the in the London Review Bookshop in Holborn too.

Order this: Doughnut connoisseurs will delight in the sugary, vanilla custard marvels on offer here.

Address: 6 Neal's Yard, Covent Garden, WC2H 9DP.

Opening hours: Mon-Sat 8am-6pm, Sun 10am-5pm.

What is it? An artsy bakery, attached to next door Toklas restaurant in Temple.

Why we love it: Opened by the founders of Frieze magazine and art fairs – and named after writer and primo bohemian Alice B Toklas – you can feel oodles of creative energy running through Toklas. Score a seat in the classy, mid-century canteen-style space and feast on elegant breakfast viennoiserie, with flaky croissants, pain au chocolat, and cardamom buns. At lunchtime things step up a gear, with chunky focaccia sandwiches and strecci, aka Roman-style slices of pizza. Cakes and bakes incorporate seasonal fruits such as rhubarb and even pomello, and there are chocolate cookies for the purists. Then add on a loaf (grain is milled in-house) of aged – or porridge – sourdough bread to take home. 

Order this: Score a couple of tahini cookies to take home, and keep an eye out for their Craquelin choux buns, with rotating creamy, fruity fillings.

Address: 9 Surrey Street, Temple, WC2R 2ND.

Opening hours: Mon-Fri 8am-3.30pm, Sat 9am-2pm.

What is it? A winning lockdown start-up - now with four brick and mortar shops.

Why we love it: Sure, we all baked a bit during lockdown but how many of us actually set up a showstopping bakery? Sourdough Sophia did. Starting life in a cute Crouch End spot, Sophia has now expanded to shops in Islington, Highgate and Hampstead. She makes an award-winning wholemeal loaf and focaccia as well as all manner of stacked sarnies and delicious, photogenic treats - her dainty, passionfruit pastry bow is the stuff of Instagram dreams. The all-pink branding, too, manages to be sweet rather than saccharine.

Order this: Sophia runs a mean line in cruffins, with cinnamon, tiramisu and babka versions all popping up on her menu.

Address: 24 Middle Lane, Crouch End, N8 8PL.

Opening hours: Mon-Sat 8am-4.30pm, Sun 9am-4.30pm.

What is it? A Borough Market success story, that’s turned into a multi-outlet dough empire.

Why we love it: Founded by baker Matthew Jones in 2013, Bread Ahead started out selling its wares on Borough Market and has since grown exponentially. Now, you can find them baking up a storm in locations around the capital, from Bromley to King’s Cross, South Kensington to Wembley, plus they also run workshops, publish cookbooks and have started a baking academy. To go back to where it all began, however, visit their original stall and shop for fresh sourdough breads, cheese and olive breadsticks, focaccia, croissants, amazing amaretti biscuits and award-winning doughnuts overflowing with silky chocolate and salted caramel. 

Order this: There’s a reason Bread Ahead’s doughnuts are so beloved. Try them filled with pistachio cream, praline, blackcurrant mascarpone cheesecake - or just nab one of each? 

Address: Borough Market, Cathedral Street, London Bridge, SE1 9DE.

Opening hours: Tue-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 10am-4pm.

What is it? A legendary East End institution, serving up freshly baked beigels 24/7.

Why we love it: An old-school favourite that’s been serving London for over half a century, Beigel Bake has been dispensing freshly baked, filled beigels to a mixed crowd of clubbers, drinkers and taxi drivers since it opened its doors on Brick Lane in 1974. Their bargainous beigels (you say bagel, they say beigel) are boiled before being baked and pulled fresh from the oven day and night. You can also indulge in a piece of New York-style cheesecake or a super-sweet almond slice if you wish, but ignore the pastry-heavy sausage rolls. 

Order this: We love the classic smoked salmon/cream cheese combo and the brilliant moist salt beef, carved as you wait from a slab kept warm in the front window.

Address: 159 Brick Lane, E1 6SB.

Opening hours: Daily, 24 hours.

What is it? Banging sourdough bread, supplying some of London’s hottest kitchens.

Why we love it: Ben MacKinnon's tiny bakehouse in the arches beneath London Fields station is punching above its miniature size. E5 has its own stone mill and uses only organic grains and the finest ingredients to craft fresh, nutrient-rich loaves – most of which depend on 100 percent sourdough ‘starters’. You can also use the Bakehouse as a café drop-in for breakfast, a weekday lunch or weekend brunch. Feeling inspired? Why not check out their bread-making classes that run throughout the year. They have a mini branch in Poplar too.

Order this: Top buys include the Hackney Wild (a classic rustic loaf), the free-form Stockholm, and a spelt and walnut rugbrod (a rye loaf with organic black treacle).

Address: 396 Mentmore Terrace, London Fields, E8 3PH.

Opening hours: Mon-Fri 7.30am-5.30pm, Sat-Sun 8am-5.30pm.