Twenty London bakeries worth a detour, grouped by area so there's a good croissant, bun or loaf close to your plans: Covent Garden and Soho, Holborn to Fitzrovia, west London, north and east London, and south of the river. Each card says what to buy and what it costs, which days it opens, whether you can sit down, and the nearest Tube station.
If you're in central London and want one bakery, go to Arôme in Covent Garden for the honey butter toast (£4.90), a thick slice of Japanese milk bread with a crackly honey crust. If you'll cross town for one, make it TOAD in Camberwell: a croissant is £2.80 and a cardamom bun £3.20, but it's closed Sunday and Monday and the bakery itself says to allow at least 30 minutes to queue on Fridays and Saturdays. For pastéis de nata, it's Santa Nata in Covent Garden Market. For doughnuts, Bread Ahead at Borough Market. A good croissant in London costs about £3 to £4, and most bakeries close by 4pm or 5pm, so this is a morning habit.
The bakeries are grouped by area, starting in the West End, so you can match a bakery to the part of town you're already in. Every card names the nearest station on the Tube (the subway) or the Overground (London's suburban rail) and the walk from it. Prices are the bakeries' own, as of 28 September 2026. These are bakeries that bake their own bread and pastry. For coffee first, see the best cafés in London, and for the rest of the day, the best things to do in London.
Two things catch visitors out. Monday is the day off for a lot of the best bakers, and the good stuff sells out: Pophams says its weekend pastries usually go in the afternoon, and TOAD says to arrive before 11am if you want something specific. Come in the morning, and check the card before you go on a Monday.
Covent Garden and Soho. Arôme mixes French technique with Asian ingredients, and the thing to order is the honey butter toast (£4.90): a thick slab of shokupan, the soft Japanese milk loaf, baked with honey and butter until the top shatters. The Croissant 1930 (£3.10) is the plain option, and the miso bacon escargot (£5.50) is the savoury one. It's two minutes from Covent Garden station, so expect a line at the door, especially at weekends. It's closed on Mondays and shuts at 5pm the rest of the week. If you're nearer Bond Street, the second shop on Duke Street in Marylebone is closed Monday and Tuesday.
Closed on Mondays. Order the honey butter toast, and pick up a shokupan loaf if you have a toaster where you're staying.
The danish with mozzarella tomato and pesto was great, the honey butter toast too. from a visitor review
Three minutes away on Floral Street, Chestnut is the Covent Garden bakery I'd pick for a proper sit-down: a big menu of pastries and savoury plates, and it stays open until 6pm or 7pm, later than most. A plain croissant is £3.55, the sticky cinnamon bun £5.25, and the twice-baked pistachio and raspberry croissant £6.95. It's walk-in only and cashless, and an optional 12.5% gratuity is added to the bill. That, plus the prices, makes it the more expensive end of a Covent Garden breakfast. If you just want a croissant, order at the counter and take it away.
Walk-in only and cashless. An optional 12.5% gratuity is added to the bill, and you can ask to have it removed.
Excellent baked goods; wide selection of sweet and savory pastries. from a visitor review
Round the corner on Rose Street, Bageriet is a small Swedish bakery, and it's where I'd go for a cinnamon bun in the West End. The kanelbulle is £4.20, twisted and fragrant with cardamom in the dough. The vaniljbulle (£5.50) is a bun filled with vanilla cream, and a slice of prinsesstårta, the green marzipan-domed princess cake, is £5.20. There are only a few seats, and it's closed on Sundays, so plan it for a weekday or Saturday. Leicester Square and Covent Garden stations are both about two minutes away.
Closed on Sundays, and the full range isn't always on the counter. Whole cakes need three days' notice.
Tiny shop with few seats. I took a slice of Princess Cake away. from a visitor review
Santa Nata does one thing: pastéis de nata, the Portuguese custard tart with a blistered top and flaky pastry case. They're baked in small batches through the day, so there's usually a warm tray. Two cost £5.90 to take away (about £2.95 each), and eight cost £17.70, the same as six. It's inside the old Covent Garden market building, it's open until 9pm daily, and you can eat in or take away. It's a chain with a handful of London shops, so it isn't the place for character. It is the place for a reliable, warm nata in the middle of town.
Buy them in twos and eat one warm, straight away. The box of eight costs the same as six.
Excellent natas and friendly accommodating staff from a visitor review
Maison Bertaux on Greek Street has been here since 1871, when Monsieur Bertaux, a Communard who had fled Paris, opened a tiny patisserie and tea room. It still bakes upstairs above the shop. Come for a pot of tea, an éclair, a cream slice or a scone at one of the small tables; it's a slice of old Soho, open daily from 9:30am to 6pm. Prices aren't listed online, and you're paying for the room and the history as much as the cake. It's not a place for a quick grab-and-go croissant. Leicester Square and Tottenham Court Road stations are each three or four minutes' walk.
Come for tea and a cake at a table, not a quick takeaway. Whole cakes are ordered by phone (020 7437 6007).
Great scone (prob best one I've had in London), good tea and chocolate cake. from a visitor review
Panadera, in a Soho side street off Broadwick Street, is a Filipino bakery, and it's worth the detour for flavours you won't find elsewhere in town. Get the ube doughnut (from £4.10), made with purple yam, and a pack of pandesal, the slightly sweet Filipino bread roll (from £7.50 on pre-order). The sandos and the ube matcha latte are the other favourites. It's cashless, has no vegan or gluten-free options, and closes at 5pm. Piccadilly Circus is five minutes' walk, and Tottenham Court Road about six.
Card only, and there are no vegan or gluten-free options. Get the ube doughnut and an ube matcha latte.
Ube Matcha Latte was absolutely incredible. from a visitor review
Holborn, Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia. Toklas Bakery is the bakery arm of the Toklas restaurant, on Surrey Street between the Strand and the river, one minute from Temple station. Its croissant (£3.50), pain au chocolat (£3.75) and cardamom bun (£4.50) are what most people come for, and the rye and buckwheat brownie (£5) with Pump Street chocolate has its own fans. You can sit in. The bakery's own FAQ warns that some bakes sell out on busy days, and the viennoiserie is baked very dark, which you'll either love or not. It's a good stop between Somerset House and the South Bank.
Some bakes sell out on busy days, so come in the morning. The Roman sandwiches start at 11am.
Very flaky crunchy rich hazelnut pain au chocolate - great quantity of hazelnuts. from a visitor review
Fortitude is a small bakery on the Colonnade, a Bloomsbury mews one minute from Russell Square station and about six minutes' walk from the British Museum. It was founded in 2018 by Dee Rettali and Jorge Fernandez. The counter is bread and pastries, and it's a takeaway-and-perch sort of place, with seating outside rather than in. Prices aren't listed online, and the hours are short, 7:30am to 4pm on weekdays and 8:30am to 4pm at weekends. Come before the museum opens.
Expect to eat outside. The British Museum is about six minutes' walk, so come before it opens.
Good taste Several breads option Also cafe Need to eat outside with lots of pigeons from a visitor review
Miel opened on Warren Street in 2019, run by Shaheen Peerbhai, who trained at Le Cordon Bleu, and the viennoiserie counter runs well beyond the croissant: hazelnut pain au chocolat, swirls, kouign amann and canelés. The hazelnut pain au chocolat (£5.50) is its best seller, the chocolate and pistachio swirl is £6.80, and an all-butter croissant £3.90. Kouign amann (£5) and canelés only appear from 11am. It's pricier than most, and morning pastries run until sold out, but it opens at 7:30am every day and stays open until 7pm, Monday to Saturday. You can sit in. Warren Street station is across the road.
The hazelnut pain au chocolat is the best seller. Kouign amann and canelés don't appear until 11am. There's no phone line.
Not cheap, but good lamination is not cheap even in Paris. from a visitor review
West London. Sakurado is a Japanese patisserie rather than a bread bakery, and it's my pick for something sweet after the South Kensington museums. It started in 2017 and now has five London cafés, including this one on Gloucester Road. Order a slice of matcha mille crêpe (£8.80), thin crêpes layered with cream, or the wobbly jiggly cheesecake (from £7.50). The bear-shaped custard choux (£7.50) is the playful one. It's expensive for a slice of cake, and service can be slow at busy times, but it's open until 10pm, long after the museums have shut. Gloucester Road station is seven minutes' walk.
Open until 10pm, so it works after the museums shut. Service can be slow when it's busy.
Excellent jiggly cheesecake, and my wife enjoyed her bear as well! from a visitor review
Layla is a neighbourhood bakery at the quieter north end of Portobello Road, and the one I'd pair with the Saturday market. The counter runs through pastries, sourdough and sandwiches, and whole custard, burnt honey and lemon tarts (£42 each) can be pre-ordered with 48 hours' notice. Counter prices aren't listed online, and expect a queue on market Saturdays. Ladbroke Grove station is six minutes' walk, and it closes at 4pm (3pm on Sunday).
Pair it with Saturday's Portobello Road market, and come early. Whole tarts need 48 hours' notice.
Wonderful bakery with exceptional products. Worth queueing for. from a visitor review
Five minutes away on Golborne Road, a street of Portuguese cafés and delis (Lisboa runs a deli a few doors down), Lisboa Pâtisserie is where I'd go for a pastel de nata with some real neighbourhood around it. Have one at the counter with a coffee, or take a box away. It opens at 7am, is closed on Mondays, and prices aren't listed online. It's a local café, not a polished chain, and that's the point. Westbourne Park station is six minutes' walk.
Closed on Mondays. Order the pastéis de nata and eat one at the counter while it's fresh.
Really amazing authentic Portuguese patisserie. from a visitor review
North and east London. Pophams opened in Islington in 2017, and its laminated pastries are the ones I'd cross London for. Start with the Bacon & Maple pastry; the cardamom bun and the Marmite, Schlossberger cheese and spring onion pastry are the other good calls. Prices aren't listed online, and it's pricey, like most London bakeries of this standard. Its own FAQ says weekend pastries usually sell out in the afternoon, and it has no vegan or gluten-free pastries. The sweet selection comes out from 11:30am. It's a quiet residential street about ten minutes from Angel station; there are also branches at London Fields and Victoria Park.
Weekend pastries usually sell out in the afternoon, so come in the morning. There are no vegan or gluten-free pastries.
The BEST pastries in London by a mile. Each one is a layered work of art. from a visitor review
Fabrique started in Stockholm in 2008, and its stone-oven bakery in a railway arch next to Hoxton station is the London branch to visit. It's the place for Swedish buns: the cardamom and the cinnamon are £4.75 each and the vanilla £4.95, and the levain baguette (£4) is the loaf I'd take home. The Museum of the Home is next door, and Columbia Road flower market is about ten minutes' walk. There's no Tube nearby, so if you'd rather not come this far, Fabrique also has shops in Covent Garden and on Goodge Street. It opens at 8am on weekdays and 9am at weekends.
Get the cardamom bun. The Museum of the Home is next door, and there are central branches in Covent Garden and on Goodge Street.
Had the cardamom bun and walnut bun, loved both but I think my favourite was the former from a visitor review
The Dusty Knuckle started in a shipping container in a Dalston car park and is still in the same car park, two minutes from Dalston Junction on the Overground (there's no Tube nearby). It's a bakery and a social enterprise that trains young people who've had a hard start, and it won a King's Award for Enterprise in 2025. I'd put the bread with the best in London (an 800g house sourdough is £5.80), and the croissant (£3.30) and morning bun (£4.60) are the pastries to get. Lunch is the draw: big sandwiches on its own bread, with a bacon sandwich at £8.50. All the seating is outdoors, and at weekends the queue is long enough that the bakery offers pre-orders to skip it. Open daily, 8am to 3:30pm.
Seating is all outdoors. At weekends, pre-order bread and pastries by midnight Friday to skip the queue.
Fantastic sandwiches !!! from a visitor review
E5 Bakehouse started in 2010 with a clay oven in the corner of a Hackney railway arch, and if you only buy one loaf in London, make it E5's. It mills its own organic flour, and the Hackney Wild, its first loaf, is the one to buy. Prices aren't listed online. The arches under London Fields station now hold a café serving breakfast, weekday lunches and weekend brunch, and it's step-free. The trade-off is that it's a sit-down café as much as a bakery now, and the table service can be slow and the prices high. It's card only, with no American Express. There's no Tube nearby; London Fields station on the Overground is right outside, and Broadway Market is about ten minutes' walk.
Card only, and no American Express. Buy a Hackney Wild loaf to take away; the café inside is step-free.
Delicious fresh bread, a wide selection of products, and vegan options available. from a visitor review
Rinkoff is a Jewish East End bakery that goes back to 1911, when Hyman Rinkoff opened his first shop on Old Montague Street; Vallance Road is the family's original shopfront. Today it's the deli counter, with a breakfast bar for a coffee and a crodough, its croissant-doughnut cross, in flavours from custard to Kinder Bueno. Single crodough prices aren't listed online, but a large plaited challah is £4. Crodoughs are rich, and one is plenty to share. For more room, the main bakery and coffee shop is at 222-226 Jubilee Street, about 12 minutes' walk. Whitechapel station is five minutes from Vallance Road, and it closes at 3pm at weekends.
This is the deli counter with a breakfast bar. The bigger bakery and coffee shop is about 12 minutes' walk away at 222-226 Jubilee Street.
Great little corner café with a lovely family feel. from a visitor review
South of the river. Bread Ahead opened at Borough Market in 2013 and made its name with filled doughnuts; its own site calls them the best in London. It's now a chain with several London shops, but the Borough counter on Cathedral Street is the original. Counter prices aren't listed online. It's a counter and stall with nowhere to sit, so eat your doughnut as you walk the market. It's closed on Mondays. London Bridge station is six minutes away. If you want to make them yourself, the bakery school runs doughnut classes.
Closed on Mondays. It's a counter and stall, so take your doughnut into the market to eat.
Love the cinnamon roll from a visitor review
St. JOHN Bakery, from the restaurant group behind St. JOHN in Smithfield, has baked in this 100-foot Bermondsey railway arch since 2010. From Friday to Sunday it opens the shutters and sells its bread and doughnuts from a trestle table. Buy a doughnut and a loaf. It's takeaway only, prices aren't listed online, and it's closed Monday to Thursday. On a Saturday, combine it with Maltby Street Market, which grew up around the arches. London Bridge is about ten minutes' walk, and Bermondsey station (Jubilee line) about eleven.
Open Friday to Sunday only, selling from a trestle table at the arch, so it's takeaway. Pair it with Maltby Street Market on a Saturday.
Get the doughnuts from a visitor review
TOAD is the one bakery here that's worth a trip for its own sake. It's in Camberwell, south London, with no Tube nearby; Denmark Hill station is eleven minutes' walk. It's also cheap for the quality: a croissant is £2.80 (the central London bakeries here charge £3.10 to £3.90), a cardamom bun £3.20, an almond croissant £5.20 and the savoury everything bagel croissant £5.80. The catch is in its own FAQ: allow at least 30 minutes to queue on Fridays and Saturdays, and arrive before 11am if you want something specific. It opens Tuesday to Saturday, 8am to 3pm, and it's mostly takeaway, with three small tables outside and no indoor seating. There's a second TOAD at Deptford Market Yard.
Allow at least 30 minutes to queue on Fridays and Saturdays, and arrive before 11am if you're after something specific. Mostly takeaway: three small tables outside, no indoor seating.
Very much worth the price (and the queue) ! from a visitor review
Go early. Most of these bakeries open between 7am and 9am and close between 3pm and 5pm, and the best pastries go first. Pophams says its weekend pastries usually sell out in the afternoon, and TOAD says to arrive before 11am for anything specific. The late exceptions are Sakurado (until 10pm), Santa Nata (9pm), Miel (7pm, Monday to Saturday) and Chestnut (7pm on Fridays and Saturdays).
Mondays and Sundays. Arôme's Covent Garden shop, Bread Ahead, TOAD and Lisboa are closed on Mondays, and St. JOHN's Druid Street arch opens only Friday to Sunday. Bageriet and TOAD are closed on Sundays. If Monday is your bakery day, stick to Miel, Maison Bertaux, Chestnut, Toklas or the east London bakeries.
Skipping the queue. Several bakeries take pre-orders on their own sites: The Dusty Knuckle for weekend bread and pastries (order by midnight on Friday), Toklas for Saturday pastries (order by Tuesday evening), and TOAD with three working days' notice. Prices include VAT, the UK's sales tax, which usually applies to food eaten in but not to cold bakes taken away, so eat-in prices can be higher.
Paying. Panadera and Chestnut don't take cash at all, and E5 Bakehouse takes cards but not American Express, so carry a card. Chestnut adds an optional 12.5% gratuity to the bill.
Covent Garden has four of these bakeries within a few minutes of each other, and Hackney has three more (Fabrique, The Dusty Knuckle and E5). If you haven't picked a base, where to stay in London compares the areas. London has no tourist tax yet.
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