Britain’s Best Bakeries: reader picks
Published 14 May 2025

Founded by Singaporean restaurateur Ellen Chew and French-born patissier Alix André, this bakery and café started life as a Soho pop-up before putting down roots in the heart of Covent Garden in 2020. East Asian flavours weave their way into a display counter of dazzlingly good-looking treats from hotdog croissants with Japanese BBQ sauce to miso bacon escargots and 'gula melaka' coconut buns. The honey butter toast – a take on Japanese shokupan (milk bread) – is a must-order. A second outlet can now be found on Duke Street in Marylebone.

'A slice of Paris' in desirable Chelsea Green, Vincent Zanardi's bespoke bakery bears all the hallmarks of a well-travelled ‘maître patissier’ who has worked in top-end restaurant kitchens in France and the UK. In true French boulangerie tradition, baking is done every day on site, using flour from an artisan farmer in Burgundy, while cakes and viennoiserie feature carefully sourced ingredients from around the globe: plump almonds from Valencia, sea salt from Brittany, honey from Bermondsey. Many recipes have taken up to five years to perfect, while others are contemporary twists on the classics. Birley's also runs a chocolate shop a few doors away.

Hidden down a cobbled mews close to Russell Square, this bakery and café is conveniently located for visitors to Great Ormond Street, the Brunswick Centre and the British Museum – though you might have to compete with in-the-know locals for the creative sourdough baking. Interiors are modest but attractive, and it's hard to beat a bench seat outside on a sunny day, with a sticky bun in hand. Other highlights from the menu range from fat, flaky sausage rolls and brioche bostock with brown butter to beignets with chocolate, cardamom and clementine cream.

Mexican chef Tonatiuh Erreguin has a soulful approach to baking which has nourished a grateful community of customers in Stoke Row and across the Chilterns since opening in an industrial unit in 2019. Her standout sourdough attracts snaking queues (it’s advisable to arrive early), while sweet and savoury seasonal danishes, pistachio ‘cruffins’ and golden sausage rolls complete the flavour-packed line-up.

Since opening by a tributary of the Tyne in 2020, this little bakeshop in the bohemian enclave of Ouseburn has created quite a stir among the city’s cognoscenti. Behind the counter, energetic black-clad staff construct imaginative sandwiches such as roasted aubergine with chimichurri and curtido (fermented vegetables) or ham and pease-pudding rolls. What makes these a class apart is the superb bread, from cruncy-crusted baguettes to best-in-class olive and rosemary focaccia. Among the sweet stuff, the slightly salty, buttery chocolate-chip cookie is worth every calorie. Laptop-tapping regulars sit on the few stools inside, sipping tasty mochas, while others eat outside by the river. There are also outlets in North Shields: a ‘stunningly good’ bakehouse, a coffee shop, and the bakery itself. 

When Ollie Gold set up shop in a former chemist on an Islington backstreet in 2017, his bakery became an instant cult hit – thanks to a combination of covetable ceramics and inventive viennoiserie that tastes as good as it looks. Nearly a decade on, there are still queues (and rightly so) for the signature sweet-salty bacon and maple swirl, seasonal danishes and reliably good coffee. The empire has spawned stylish homewares shops, a London Fields bakery and pasta restaurant, and a café in Victoria Park.

Related to the Whitley Bay original, this bright, upbeat modern bakery and sandwich bar in Newcastle city centre is popular with local workers. A few sourdough loaves are on show, but cakes, tarts and sandwiches are the mainstays, and daily specials are displayed with pride. Buy 'to go' or sit in the whitewashed ‘PureKnead Studio’ at the back, where ceramics and glassware are for sale. Our fridge-cold seeded sourdough sandwich had an abundant filling of creamed, garlicky feta over slices of courgette and salad leaves. Otherwise, take the sweet route with, say, a fresh Victoria sponge topped with blackcurrants and flaked almonds, accompanied by one of the hot or cold beverages – Pure Knead's flat whites are a strong, smooth treat. 

Pa Modou’s petite little Suba bakery is one of Walthamstow’s greatest hits. From the Gambia by way of Hackney, his African- and Asian-inflected bakes are spectacular elevations on the classics. Estate Dairy butter and milled-to-order grain from Scotland are baked into ‘plain’ croissants, produced in batches throughout the morning for the ultimate stretchy, flaky freshness and finished with a mango syrup glaze. There are also bantu buns fragrant with caraway, and sunshine shades in the signature 'mango baobab danish' with cardamom cream. On our latest visit, a Japanese egg mayo sandwich was a savoury highlight. Find a Suba sister site in Upper Clapton.