Cumbria sourdough specialist Lovingly Artisan has been named the best artisan bakery in Britain for the third year running.
Run by husband-and-wife team Aidan Monks and Catherine Connor, the bakery claimed the top spot of the Bakers’ Dozen 2025 – a list which details the top 13 artisan bakeries in Britain as voted for by industry experts. More than 100 specialists from artisan bakers to suppliers, consultants, and lecturers were hand-picked by British Baker to vote for their favourite artisan bakeries.
As Lovingly Artisan triumphantly remains in the number one spot, there are several new entrants in the top 13 including Lannan in Edinburgh and Gorse in Cornwall (see full list below).
The Bakers’ Dozen was revealed on Tuesday 28 January at the third-ever meeting of The Artisan Collective, which was sponsored by Craggs & Co. The event is an initiative created by British Baker to celebrate artisan bakeries and the people behind them whilst offering a platform to facilitate conversations and share skills.
“Each of the 13 bakeries on the list has been recognised by industry experts and their peers as a beacon of dedication, passion, and skill, as demonstrated through lovingly handcrafted products and by the people who make them,” said British Baker editor Amy North.
“It’s wonderful to see such a diverse range of bakeries nominated with their locations spanning the length and breadth of Britain, from Cornwall to Edinburgh, Cardiff to Birmingham, and several in the London. What this means is that communities across the nation have the opportunity to support their local bakeries and treat themselves to some fantastic baked goods in the process.”
An artisan bakery is where baked goods – such as sourdough, bread, buns, pastries, and cakes and more – are made by skilled bakers by hand, often utilising longer and more traditional processes. Quality of ingredients and the end products are high on the agenda, and as a result, artisan bakeries typically only have a handful of sites.
Here is the Bakers’ Dozen 2025:
13. Fortitude Bakehouse, London
Famed for its beignets, which frequently cause a queue at 11am when they appear on the counter, Fortitude has cemented itself as a must-visit destination on the London bakery scene. It serves up a wide range of buns, bakes, and coffee with a frequently changing menu to embrace seasonal and on-trend flavours. Sweet flavours dominate with the likes of a Roast Apple with Cinnamon Cream & Toffee Ganache Beignet, Rhubarb, Custard & Cream Danish, and Cinnamon Buns available recently, although savoury items such as the Butternut Squash, Myzithra & Fried Sage Leaf Danish also make an appearance. Visitors to its shop in Bloomsbury can see some of the production in action, even more so if they walk a few metres down the road to its baking space, which was opened in 2024.
12. Bread Ahead, London
Founded by Matthew Jones a decade ago, London’s Bread Ahead is renowned in the bakery world for its deep-filled doughnuts and golden sourdough loaves which draw in crowds across its five sites in the capital. Some may happen to wander in randomly, but many are lured by its reputation or thanks to its engaging social media content which is still headed up by Jones. Bread Ahead is all about “giving people good honest food”, according to the founder – an ethos the bakery is also hoping to impart by giving people the skills to make it for themselves thanks to its bakery school.
11. Haxby Bakehouse, York
Haxby Bakehouse and Delicatessen has been supplying baked goods to retail and wholesale customers in Haxby and beyond since 2008. Founded by husband-and-wife team Phil and Tina Clayton, it specialises in traditional artisan bread and pastries with the likes of cruffins, deep-filled sandwiches, and dark crusted sourdoughs made with locally grown grains gracing the menu. One thing Clayton was clear about from the beginning was that he was going to bake the traditional way, using slow fermentation and no artificial flour improvers, preservatives, or emulsifiers – values the bakery maintains to this day.
10. Gorse, Cornwall
Co-owners Nat Galliano-Hale and Anna Gerrans started Gorse in 2021, producing sourdough loaves from a business park on the outskirts of Newquay for cafés and restaurants around Cornwall. With business blossoming, in 2023 the duo moved to a new site at Lanteague. The bakery is open every week on Tuesday to Sunday with a regularly changing menu of doughnuts, cinnamon buns, croissants, sourdough, and baguettes. Gorse is dedicated to sourcing local ingredients and produce that go into creating top quality products – recent highlights include a coffee crème Danish with dark chocolate crumb, raspberry Bostock, and Raisin, Smoked Tea & Caraway Bread.
9. Pettigrew Bakeries, Cardiff
Pettigrew Bakeries has three sites across Cardiff, all representing different sides of the city and different types of locations – Castle Arcade, Roath, and Victoria Park. It is founder David Le Masurier’s understanding of each and his ability to adapt with different models for these locations and customers that has seen the business thrive. Staff at all sites are warm, welcoming, and knowledgeable with visitors to Roath able to see the breadmaking in action while those heading to Victoria Park can sample its exclusive patisserie range at weekends. Sourdoughs are made with organic flour over a 72-hour process, while Pettigrew uses traditional yeasted methods to create products like demi-brioche, focaccia, honey-oat spelt bread and more. It’s also proud of its pastries including the Crème Brûlée Croissant, Mocha Cocoa Croissant, and Pistachio & Cardamom Cruffin.
8. Farro, Bristol
Having first made it to the Bakers’ Dozen in 2024, Farro remains on the list for 2025. Located in Brunswick Square, the independent bakery and city mill has a focus on flavour and an eye for detail, serving up what it describes as seasonally delicious, well sourced bread and pastries alongside a well-made cup of coffee. Freshly milled flour is at the core of its bread, with the bakery milling its own to preserve the full flavour, nutrition, and unique character of the crops it works with, which make soil health a priority. The grains also find their way into the bakery’s sweet offering, like the Medovik cake with einkorn sponge or the Roast Apricot & Panela Galette made with einkorn and YQ wheat.
7. Levain & Cherry, Birmingham
Levain & Cherry is an independent artisan bakery with two sites in south Birmingham that specialises in French breads, baguettes, and pastries with added twists from around the world. As the name suggests, the majority of the bakery’s produce is made with levain and it only uses French organic flours from Moulin Viron, a family flour mill located just outside of Paris. Visitors to the bakery – which is open Wednesday to Saturday – are able to see the breadmaking process first hand before sampling the likes of sourdough focaccia, dark rye sourdough, cinnamon buns, and Marmite & cheddar swirls.
6. Bread Source, Norfolk
Bread Source, which remains on the list for 2025, describes itself as ferociously passionate about every single detail involved in crafting each loaf of bread – from the sourcing the grain, to working with farmers, milling the flour and the numerous processes of developing the perfect dough. Established in 2012, the business now has seven stores including its production bakery which is open to the public. In addition to bread, buns, pastries, and sandwiches are available as Bread Source’s bakers look to craft products that fill people up, make them smile, and fuel them for the day. Highlights include raspberry swirls, cardamom and cinnamon buns, seed covered rye loaves, naturally leavened spelt sourdough, and ciabatta.
5. Arôme, London
Arôme has climbed six places in the Bakers’ Dozen since last year. From its two sites in London – in Covent Garden and on Duke Street – it serves up beautiful baked goods which meld age-old French methodologies with Asian ingredients thanks to its founders French-born pâtissier Alix André and Singaporean restaurateur Ellen Chew. Notable examples of this include the Honey Butter Toast made from the bakery’s soft and fluffy shokupan, Miso Bacon Escargot pastry, Apple Miso Danish, and Hotdog & Cheese Croissant with Japanese BBQ Sauce.
4. Pollen, Manchester
Sourdough and viennoiserie bakery Pollen is another climber, gaining eight places on the Bakers’ Dozen from last year. Having been in business since 2016, it operates two sites in Manchester – one in Kampus and other next to Ancoats Marina. Both sites have plentiful seating offering visitors the opportunity to sample the breakfast and brunch menus featuring savoury bacon buns, apple French toast, Kimchi grilled cheese, and house sandwiches made on Pollen’s focaccia as well as seasonal specials. It also supplies many restaurants, bars, and cafes with its products.
3. Lannan, Edinburgh
Pistachio, Tonka & White Chocolate Pain Suisse, Jerusalem Artichoke Dauphinoise, Tête De Moine & Pickled Trompette De La Mort, and Rhubarb & Custard Tart are among the items you may find on the menu at Lannan – a brand-new entry for the 2025 Bakers’ Dozen. Owned by Darcie Maher, Lannan can be found at Hamilton Place and is recognisable from its signature croissant motif. Open Thursday to Sundays, queues are to be expected with the bakery noting that pastries don’t tend to last beyond 10am. Products change from week to week as Lannan embraces seasonal flavours.
2. Northern Rye, Newcastle upon Tyne
Northern Rye has made progress over the last year – not only has it climbed another two places on the Bakers’ Dozen, making the podium for the first time, but it has also moved to a larger production bakery and opened a new shop in North Shields. Another site in Harbour House is also on the agenda for the near future which will take the total to three. The bakery, founded by Robbie Livingstone in 2017, now has more production space allowing it to extend its range which includes bestselling country sourdough, baguettes, almond croissants, cinnamon buns, cruffins and pecan swirls, into the likes of pre-order celebration cakes and tarts, and a wider bread offering.
1. Lovingly Artisan, Cumbria
Headed up by husband-and-wife team Aidan Monks and Catherine Connor, this independent bakery based near Kendal on the edge of the Lake District prides itself on its use of slow fermentation and organic British flours to make loaves full of flavour and nourishment.
It also holds the belief that bread is worthy of being at the centre of the table, providing bakeries are producing bread which belongs there. As such, it embraces premium, organic, and stoneground flours using wheat, rye, barley and ancient grains such as spelt, emmer and einkorn to produce its loaves, with Malted Barley sourdough, Northumberland Rye, Danish Rugbrød, and Ancient Emmer & Kombucha among the line-up.
Lovingly Artisan doesn’t rest on its laurels, despite having taken the number one spot in the Bakers’ Dozen for the third year in a row and Monks claiming the coveted Baker of the Year title at the 2024 Baking Industry Awards. Over the past year the business has thrived, driven by the duo and their dedicated team, to open a new site in Burneside up the road from its existing Kendal bakery. What’s more, it has invested in its ambition to reduce food miles wherever possible by partnering with fellow Cumbrian business Eden Yard and wheat specialist Dr Andrew Wilkinson to grow a rye crop in the heart of Eden Valley. In the near future, this will be milled at the Burneside site.
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