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On the search for the crispiest, fluffiest croissant? Hunting for the perfect loaf? London is a goldmine of outstanding baked goods, but it only just scratches the surface of what bakeries across the UK have to offer. And the nominees for the National Bakery Awards 2025 prove it.
A total of 229 bakeries across the nation have been nominated for the awards. Six of the shortlisted bakeries are in London, including Toad, Fortitude Bakehouse and Dusty Knuckle, but there are 19 more nominated bakeries in surrounding counties that are worth organising a day trip trip.
Brighton’s Flint Owl Bakery, one of the Good Food Guide’s best 50 bakeries, is among the nominees. There, you may find baked delights like lemon meringue tarts, rosemary and sea salt flutes or pistachio and raspberry financiers.
Whitstable’s sourdough specialists Grain and Hearth, another place used to accolades, is also in the running. Expect sweet and savoury treats like sticky toffee dulce de leche bread and butter pudding, almond pesto and cheese swirls or pecan pie cruffin.
The National Bakery of the Year will be announced at an event on November 25 at Big Penny Social in Walthamstow. Prizes will be handed out to county and regional winners, Social Enterprise Bakery of the Year, Young Baker of the Year, and the winner of Outstanding Contribution to Bakery.
The best bakeries near London in 2025, according to the National Bakery Awards
Here’s the full list of bakeries near London worth making the pilgrimage to, according to the National Bakery Awards 2025.
Kent
- Grain & Hearth, Whitstable
- Docker Bakery, Folkestone
- The Bakery TW, Tunbridge Wells
- The Cornish Bakery, Canterbury
Essex
- Homemade Bakery, Leigh-on-Sea
- Ravens, Billericay and Ingatestone
- Tiptree Patisserie, Witham
Berkshire
- Fego, Ascot
- Honesty, Newbury
- Warings Bakery, Reading
Buckinghamshire
- Bakedd, Maidenhead
- Rex Bakery, Amersham
- Wenzels (Aylesbury branch)
Surrey
- Coughlans Bakery, Epsom
- Bachmanns, Thames Ditton and Weybridge
- The Gingerbread Bakery, Walton-on-Thames
Hertfordshire
- Days of Ashwell, Ashwell
- Proto Artisan, Ware and St Albans
- The Village Bakery Ltd, Bishop's Stortford
East Sussex
- Cielo, Brighton
- Flint Owl Bakery, Lewes
- Julien Plumart, Brighton
- Open Bakery, Brighton
- Poppyseed Bakery, Eastbourne and Bexhill
West Sussex
- Hoxton Bakehouse, Winchester
You can find all the bakeries across the UK nominated for National Bakery of the Year 2025 here.
The best bakeries in London, according to Time Out.
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