The best bakeries in London

What is it? An inventive pastry HQ, down an unassuming Camberwell street, with a second site in Deptford.

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 and St Paul's House, 3 Market Yard, Deptford, SE8 4BX.

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

What is it? Pastries, burgers and tacos on the fringes of Stoke Newington.

Why we love it: This bakery means business. Right by Rectory Road Overground station, Bake Street offers sublime coffee, sausage rolls and fresh homemade bakes. But the thing that people travel far and wide for? The mighty fine weekend food menu including Nashville-style hot fried-chicken sandwiches, egg buns, tater tots, birra consommé tacos and smash burgers.

Time Out tip: Be aware: it’s outdoor-seating only and there’s usually a fight for tables, so you might have to grab and go.

Address: 58 Evering Road, N16 7SR.

Opening hours: Mon closed, Tue-Fri 8am-4pm, Sat-Sun 9am-4pm. 

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? 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? Quince Bakery seems like the kind of place your granny would like, if she also happened to be a De Beauvoir darling who dresses in gingham Damson Madder dresses and cutesy headscarves.

Why we love it: This homely bakehouse whips up gloriously imperfect buns, tarts, cakes, pies, cookies, scones and all manner of other pastries. Using seasonal produce, expect to see things like a peach and custard bun or a ratatouille galette.

Order this: Their brown butter bun is a staple. The pillowy roll has a nugget of butter baked into its centre, and is topped with a crunchy craquelin. The taste is treacly and a little bit salty.

Address: 267 New North Road, Islington, N1 7AA. 

Opening hours: Sun-Tue closed, Wed-Fri 8am-2.30pm, Sat 9am-2.30pm. 

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 Filipino bakery from the creators of acclained restaurant Donia.

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? You’ll find Astrid - a demure double-sited Euro bakehouse with impeccable curb appeal - in the leafy residential fringes of Alexandra Palace.

Why we love it: Former journalist Charlotte O’Kelly opened this Wes Anderson-inspired mint green hatch in 2024. A bigger, sit-in space a few doors down followed not long after. The smaller spot offers all manner of sweet treats, from juicy almond croissants through to fruity pastries, as well as fluffy brioche cardamon buns and a seriously good croissant. The larger venue is your go-to for savoury offerings (ham and cheese croissant, focaccia and sausage rolls), and bread.

Order this: Their sourdough is triumph; a world away from tougher, teeth-snapping versions we have known, this bouncy, light loaf is made with wholemeal spelt and heritage einkorn. 

Address: 118a and 114 Alexandra Park Road, N10 2AH.

Opening hours: Daily 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? 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? Uncle John’s Bakery has been serving Ghanaian specialities to Tottenham for over 30 years.

Why we love it: Set up in 1995 by John and Emelia Mensah, the family-run bakery is famous for its soft and brilliantly bouncy sweet bread, but also has a host of other tricks up its sleeve. There are bags of savoury chin chin snacks with cracked black pepper and warm bofrot doughnuts (try the addictive coconut version with a crunchy, deep-fried outer layer), as well as hot chicken and fish pies, which are individually heated up for customers. As well as committed regulars who’ve been coming since the bakery opened, a recent visitor to Uncle John’s was John Dramani Mahama, President of Ghana.

Order this: The fish pie, where flakey and toothsome butter shortcrust pastry is stuffed with sardines, onions, tomatoes and Ghanaian spices.

Address: 76 West Green Road, Seven Sisters, N15 5NS.

Opening hours: Mon-Sat 9am-7pm.

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

Why we love it: Opened by the founders of Frieze art fairs – and named after writer and primo bohemian Alice B Toklas – you can feel oodles of creative energy running through Toklas Bakery. 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 Roman sandwiches courtesy of executive baker Adam Sellar. Fillings include the likes of prosciutto cotto with scamorza and mustard mayo, or anchovy with stracciatella and pickled lemon. Cakes and bakes incorporate seasonal fruits such as rhubarb and pomello (the mandarin and clotted cream bun is great), and there are chocolate cookies for the purists. Then add on a loaf (grain is milled in-house) of aged sourdough bread to take home. 

Order this: Try the sweet and savoury escargots, which aren’t actual snails, but swirly pastries shaped like them. 

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

Opening hours: Mon-Fri 8am-5pm, Sat-Sun 9am-3pm.

What is it? A tiny, 19th-century Soho institution that prides itself on being London’s oldest French pâtisserie.

Why we love it: It’s quaint and as far from corporate as can be, and an old and familiar friend. Chomp down on cheese-stuffed quiche before embarking on a pastry adventure, with berry-studded, crem-pat laced cakes while surveying the memorabilia, peeling plaster and spangly swags. Service is endearingly chaotic, but that’s all part of the charm. Maison Bertaux is a bit of a celeb hotspot. Karl Marx was a rumoured fan and, more recently, Lily Allen hosted a signing event for her album West End Girl there.

Order this: Their fruit tarts are sensational. 

Address: 28 Greek Street, Soho, W1D 5DQ. 

Opening hours: Daily 9.30am-6pm.

What is it? Abright and friendly Lebanese bakery serving coffee and Middle Eastern bites.

Why we love it: Papo’s Bagels may be gone from the little alleyway behind the Shacklewell Arms, but something excellent has popped up in its place. Edami serves daily from 9am to 3pm (apart from Mondays), and the star of the show is the mankoushe, a traditional Lebanese flatbread stuffed with fillings like labneh, jibneh (a stretchy white cheese, not too distant from a mozzarella), minced beef, or sweet variants like carob and tahini. 

Time Out tip: The most popular is ‘the cocktail’, which combines jibneh with za’atar. It’s tangy, unctuous and has a cheese pull that is surely destined to end up on the Instagram grids of London’s foodie elite.

Address: 73-75 Shacklewell Lane, Hackney, E8 2EB.

Opening hours: Tue-Sun 9am-3pm.

Expect to pay: Mankoushe £6.

What is it? A hype-y bakery and restaurant chain across north and east London (and with a new Soho outlet in the Bridle Lane branch of streetwear store Aries).

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 for romantic dinners. Find more Jolene bakeries across on Redchurch Street, Colebrooke Row and Hornsey Road, as well as the latest Soho spot.

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? 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 path 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? 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? 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? 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.

What is it? A winning lockdown start-up - now with seven 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, Bermondsey, Primrose Hill, Hampstead and Covent Garden. 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: The Marmite swirl is a savoury powerhouse, with perfectly flakey pastry and a cheesey, dreamy filling. 

Address: 4 Topsfield Parade, Crouch End, N8 8PR.

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