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Time Out
08-05-2025
- Time Out
The 27 best bakeries in London, according to a luxury travel magazine
You can't go far in London these days without being met by the dreamy, delectable scent of freshly baked goods. From bagel shops and sourdough maestros to cinnamon bun havens and playful patisseries, the options out there are almost overwhelming (in the best way). With so many bakehouses about, it's helpful to separate the good from the great so you know which ones are really worth your dough. Here at Time Out, we've got our own carefully curated ranking of the best bakeries in town, but if you want a second opinion Condé Nast Traveller has just revealed its pick of the 27 bakeries the very best in the city and chosen six that represent the real crème de la crème. Let's dig in. Best for French patisserie If you want the finest, fanciest French patisserie in the city, CNT reckons Cédric Grolet is the place to go. Cédric Grolet is one of the very best patissier in the world, and his outlet at Belgravia's Berkley hotel (a short walk from Hyde Park) is his first outside of France. Condé Nast said: 'The à la carte-style Berkeley café inside stocks a variety of his sweet treats, from intricate waffle flowers topped with chantilly cream to viennoiseries galore. The marigold and lemon flower tart is a winner, but it's the signature fruit trompe-l'œil that steals the show.' Best for sandwiches Dalston's Dusty Knuckle Bakery was CNT's best bakery for sandwiches in London. It said: 'The fillings are inventive and favorites include porchetta, salsa verde, braised spring onion and purple sprouting broccoli, chard, olives, feta, and almonds on doughy focaccia bread.' As it happens, the Dusty Knuckle is Time Out's number one bakery right now, too. One of our fave things to order is the nduja pizza with harissa dip on the side. You're welcome. Best for cupcakes Head baker and owner of Violet Cakes in Hackney, Claire Ptak, was the lady behind Harry and Meg's lemon and elderflower wedding cake back in 2018. In other words, you know her stuff is going to be good. CNT named the bakery London's best for cupcakes and gave a special shoutout to its whoopie pies, made up of two cake sides filled with seasonal buttercream with flavours such as salted caramel, melted Valrhona dark chocolate and fresh fruit purée. Best for doughnuts Bread Ahead in Borough Market, crowned CNT 's best bakery for doughnuts, has been known for its filled fluffy bakes for years. Its classic crowdpleasers include salted caramel, jam and Nutella filled doughnuts, but CNT also recommends its 'extravagant cinnamon roll and soft powdered amaretti that are nothing like the store-bought rocks'. Best for savoury pastries If you tend to pick starters over deserts, Condé Nast Traveller recommends heading to Pophams in Islington, its best bakery for savoury stuff. Specifically, it highlights the bakery's famous laminated maple-bacon croissant. Other savoury options there have included honey and smoked salt buns and its marmite, schlossberger and spring onion pastries. Best for seasonal ingredients Toad Bakery in Peckham is CNT 's final 'top pick'. The publication said: 'The menu celebrates the UK's seasonality, focusing on low-mileage ingredients that can bring their recipes to life.' It recommended sampling some of its most creative bakes, which (at the time of writing) include a plum and marzipan sun bun, anise and orange blossom iced finger and a chocolate chip and soy sauce cookie. We also say that its more traditional saffron buns are well worth indulging in, too. The 27 best bakeries in London, according to Conde Nast Traveller Kuro Bakery, Notting Hill Milk Run, Tooting Bec Lily Vanilli, Hackney Don't Tell Dad, Queen's Park Arôme Bakery, Covent Garden Fortitude Bakehouse, Russell Square Toad Bakery, Peckham Pophams Bakery, Islington Forno, Hackney St John Bakery, Covent Garden Bunhead Bakery, Dulwich Common Breads, Belgravia Luminary Bakery, Camden and Stoke Newington Toklas, Temple Cédric Grolet at The Berkeley Fabrique Bakery, Shoreditch Pavilion, Victoria Park Jolene, Newington Green The Dusty Knuckle Bakery, Dalston Layla Bakery, Notting Hill Buns From Home, Notting Hill Sourdough Sophia, Crouch End Bread Ahead, Borough Market Violet Cakes, Hackney Willy's Pies, London Fields Margot Bakery, East Finchley E5 Bakehouse, Hackney 🥐 The best bakeries in London, according to Time Out.
Forbes
18-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Rise Of The Luxury Egg: How Seasonal Premiumisation Turned Chocolate Into A Status Symbol
The Easter egg—once a grocery-store staple wrapped in foil—is now commanding headlines, luxury price tags, and social media attention. For a growing number of consumers, it has become more than a seasonal treat. It's a signal. It's a story. And it's a compelling example of seasonal premiumisation at its most effective. While other calendar moments have long been commercialised, Easter has remained relatively modest—until now. In the last three years, the rise of the luxury Easter egg has reframed the season as a retail event with emotional depth, visual appeal, and high-margin opportunity. And brands are responding with artistry, scarcity, and strategy. Retailers have long known that seasonal spikes can yield exceptional results. In grocery, a well-executed seasonal activation can lift category sales by 20–30%. But premiumisation elevates that further. It allows brands to drive margin without scale—offering limited-edition items that hold emotional resonance and avoid discount fatigue. In today's cautious-yet-curious consumer landscape, Easter has become the perfect testing ground for this approach. The pressure to spend is lower than at Christmas, and the sentiment is more joyful than transactional. For the consumer, a luxury egg is a way to mark the season meaningfully. For the brand, it's an invitation to tell a richer story. The modern Easter egg is no longer just confectionery. It's becoming a status symbol, particularly among consumers who value design, craftsmanship, and shareable experiences. At Gucci Osteria in Florence, the house's culinary arm offers a €120 chocolate egg adorned in Gucci's unmistakable visual language. It's a product that carries as much brand equity as a handbag. This is chocolate as extension of lifestyle—designed not simply to be consumed, but admired, gifted, and documented. Louis Vuitton's €145 Le Chocolat Maxime Frédéric egg follows a similar path. Styled in the shape of the brand's iconic trunks, complete with monogram embossing and padlocks, it's an edible replica of heritage. This is brand storytelling rendered in cocoa—an object of beauty, scarcity, and cultural shorthand. Back in the UK, Claridge's offers a more restrained but equally meaningful take. Their £45 milk chocolate egg, elegantly hand-piped and presented in signature green, draws directly from the hotel's Art Deco roots. Here, the power lies in subtle luxury—heritage made tangible. Cédric Grolet, the French patisserie artist, takes a sculptural approach. Known for reimagining desserts as fine art, Grolet's eggs have become objets d'art for the social media generation—designed to be photographed, admired, and then, eventually, eaten. They are luxury in experience as much as in form. At the more accessible end of the scale, Läderach's 23cm Bunny Cleo figure blends Swiss quality with playful elegance. Priced at £35, it offers what many consumers are seeking: attainable luxury. A product that feels thoughtful, beautifully made, and worthy of the moment. While the executions vary, the most successful luxury Easter eggs share a set of clear, strategic attributes. First, craftsmanship. Whether hand-piped, moulded or embossed, these products carry visible evidence of artistry and care. The design is deliberate, often drawing on other disciplines—architecture, fashion, or sculpture. Second, brand storytelling. Each egg extends the DNA of the house it comes from. Whether it's the iconic green of Claridge's or the structural references of Louis Vuitton, these aren't just chocolates. They're narratives, compressed into a seasonal window. Scarcity is also critical. Many of these products are available in limited numbers or through exclusive channels. This drives urgency and elevates perceived value—especially in a category that's traditionally been over-supplied and under-valued. Then there's packaging. These products are presented with the same care as a piece of jewellery. Presentation becomes part of the performance—and part of the justification for the price. Finally, there is emotional resonance. The luxury egg has become a vehicle for modern gifting—offering beauty, thoughtfulness, and novelty without the long-term commitment of a keepsake. It's generosity, simplified. The rise of the luxury Easter egg isn't just a charming seasonal trend—it's a highly calculated move by brands looking to deepen consumer connection, expand product repertoire, and generate high-impact visibility. With luxury brands increasingly entering lifestyle and culinary categories, Easter presents a short-window opportunity to release product with immediate relevance and long shelf-life online. Social media has amplified this trend significantly—turning a simple gift into shareable content that extends far beyond the recipient. And unlike some traditional luxury categories, the seasonal premiumisation model requires neither high commitment from the consumer nor high inventory risk for the brand. It's nimble. It's visual. And it's effective. Easter may never rival Christmas in scale, but its evolution is proving to be a blueprint for how brands can turn sentiment into margin, and rituals into relevance.
