London’s best bakeries keep baker’s hours, which means they are finished when you are not. Pophams shuts at four, at every one of its six doors, seven days a week. Poplar Bakehouse shuts at half three.
There is exactly one exception worth knowing, and it is a strange one: e5 Bakehouse run a branch inside the V&A East Storehouse that stays open until ten at night on Thursdays and Saturdays, because the museum does.
Everything else on this page is a morning. Here is what each one publishes, and the rules they attach to it.
The one that is also a school
Bread Ahead, Borough Market
Started in Borough Market and now runs seven UK bakeries and a baking school with published prices.
Bread Ahead
- Address
- Borough Market, SE1 9DE. Also Leicester Square at 20 to 21 Leicester Square WC2H 7JX, South Kensington at 5 to 7 Pelham Street SW7 2ND, Kings Cross Square N1C 9AL, Wembley at 26 to 28 Olympic Way HA9 0NP, King’s College Hospital and Bromley
- Nearest
- London Bridge for Borough Market. Leicester Square, South Kensington and King’s Cross for the others
- Booking
- Workshops booked online, with group bookings and gift vouchers. The bakeries themselves are walk in
- Price
- The 90 minute sourdough starter school is 25 pounds. Evening dining workshops such as pizza and tiramisu are 70, with 10 off a head if you book for two or more. Half day workshops including doughnuts, New York bagels and Scandinavian baking are 110. A full day afternoon tea is 240 and the three day guide to sourdough is 550
- Standing
- Seven UK bakeries, with sites in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, the United States, the Philippines and Thailand, plus the Bread Ahead Bakery School and Academy
How to get in
The school is the reason to look past the doughnut. Hands on workshops run from 25 pounds for ninety minutes to 550 for three days and cover sourdough, pastry, doughnuts, bagels and patisserie, with live online classes and video masterclasses alongside them. Most of them run at Borough Market and Wembley, and the full day afternoon tea runs at Pavilion Road and Wembley. The Bread Ahead Academy is the serious version, a term based programme for people going into artisan baking, and applications for the summer term open in advance. They also run the Future Bakers Project, which they describe as a mission to teach a million young people to bake. Borough Market is the original site and the one to visit if you want the bakery in its proper context, since the market guide on this site covers the rest of that morning.
The one with two doors at every site
Pophams, London Fields, Islington and Victoria Park
Three bakeries, three shops next to them, and everything closed by four.
Pophams
- Address
- 197 Richmond Road, London Fields, E8 3NJ. 19 Prebend Street, Islington, N1 8PF. 110A Lauriston Road, Victoria Park, E9 7HA. The Home and Pantry shops sit at 21 Prebend Street and 195 Richmond Road
- Nearest
- London Fields for Richmond Road. Angel for Prebend Street. Hackney Wick or Bethnal Green for Lauriston Road
- Hours
- Bakeries Monday to Friday 7.30am to 4pm, Saturday 8am to 4pm, Sunday 8.30am to 4pm. Home and Pantry Islington Monday to Saturday 8am to 4pm and Sunday 8.30am to 4pm. Home London Fields Monday to Saturday 9am to 4pm and Sunday 9.30am to 4pm
- Booking
- No booking for the bakeries. Venue hire available at the London Fields studio
- Standing
- Three neighbourhood bakeries, each paired with a separate Home or Pantry shop a door or two away
How to get in
Four in the afternoon is the hard stop and it applies at every address, every day of the week, without exception. Half seven is the earliest opening, and only on weekdays: Saturday is eight and Sunday half eight. The layout is worth understanding before you travel, because each neighbourhood has two Pophams addresses rather than one. Islington has the bakery at 19 Prebend Street and the Home and Pantry shop at 21. London Fields has the bakery at 197 Richmond Road and the Home shop at 195, plus a studio at the same number for hire. The two keep different hours, with the Home shops opening an hour later.
The one under a railway station
e5 Bakehouse, London Fields
A clay oven built in a railway arch in 2010, with a branch that now stays open until ten.
e5 Bakehouse
- Address
- Arch 395 to 397, Mentmore Terrace, London Fields, E8 3PH. Poplar Bakehouse at 8a Cotall Street, E14 6TL. e5 Storehouse at the V and A East Storehouse, Parkes Street, E20 3AX
- Nearest
- London Fields overground, which sits directly above the bakery. Hackney Central five minutes
- Hours
- London Fields Monday to Friday 7.30am to 5pm and weekends 8am to 5pm. Poplar every day 8am to 3.30pm. The Storehouse 10am to 6pm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, and 10am to 10pm on Thursday and Saturday
- Booking
- No booking for the bakeries. In person and online baking classes booked separately
- Standing
- Founded in spring 2010 in a railway arch, after the founder took a short sourdough course and came home to Hackney to build a clay oven fuelled with off cuts from local carpenters
How to get in
Two published rules matter here. They take card only and they do not accept American Express, which is an unusual thing to spell out and worth knowing before you queue. And the Storehouse branch inside the V and A East is the only bakery on this page open in the evening, running to ten on Thursdays and Saturdays because the museum keeps those hours. The original is literally underneath London Fields station, in a spruced up arch, with bike parking outside and wheelchair access. Note the street parking restriction, permit holders only between half eight and half six on weekdays. Poplar is the short day at half three.
What to know
Four in the afternoon is the rule. Pophams close at four everywhere. Poplar Bakehouse at half three. e5 at London Fields at five. Bakeries are a morning business and the good things go first.
The one evening option is in a museum. e5’s Storehouse branch at the V and A East runs to 10pm on Thursday and Saturday, and to 6pm the rest of the week, because those are the nights the museum stays open. It is the only address here you can reach after work.
Half seven is as early as it gets, and only on a weekday. Pophams and e5 both open at 7.30am Monday to Friday, then shift to eight at the weekend and half eight or nine on Sunday. A Sunday early start is not available anywhere here.
Check which door you want. Pophams run two addresses in each of two neighbourhoods, a bakery and a separate Home or Pantry shop, on different hours. The bakery opens earlier.
e5 takes no American Express. Card only, and that card specifically excluded, which they publish on their own contact page.
Two of the three will teach you. Bread Ahead run workshops from 35 pounds and a career Academy. e5 run in person and online classes. Baking is a large part of what both businesses sell.
Everything here was taken from each bakery’s own published information and rechecked on 28 September 2026. Class prices are their starting figures. Confirm before you travel.
Where to go next
The best coffee shops in London have the same problem in sharper form, with Prufrock closing at half four and all three Monmouth shops shut on Sundays.
The sandwiches guide covers what to do with the bread, including the Brick Lane shop that has not closed since 1979.
Breakfast in London covers sitting down for a proper one, and brunch covers the weekend.
Borough Market is where Bread Ahead started, and the food markets guide covers how the halls and the street markets differ. Hackney holds both Pophams and e5.
Questions we get asked
What are the best bakeries in London?
Bread Ahead, which began in Borough Market and now runs seven UK sites plus a baking school with workshops from 35 pounds. Pophams, with bakeries in London Fields, Islington and Victoria Park, each paired with a separate shop next door. And e5 Bakehouse, in a railway arch beneath London Fields station since 2010, with branches in Poplar and inside the V and A East Storehouse.
What time do London bakeries close?
Four in the afternoon, at most of them. Pophams close at 4pm at all six of their addresses, every day of the week. Poplar Bakehouse closes at 3.30pm. e5 Bakehouse at London Fields runs to 5pm. The exception is e5’s branch inside the V and A East Storehouse, which stays open to 10pm on Thursdays and Saturdays.
Is there a bakery in London open in the evening?
One on this page. The e5 Storehouse inside the V and A East Storehouse on Parkes Street runs 10am to 10pm on Thursdays and Saturdays, matching the museum’s late openings, and 10am to 6pm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Every other bakery here has closed by five.
Where can you learn to bake in London?
Bread Ahead run hands on workshops from 35 pounds for the pizza and tiramisu session and 55 for doughnuts, holiday breads, New York bagels or Scandinavian baking, alongside online masterclasses and a career focused Academy with termly applications. e5 Bakehouse run both in person and online baking classes, and sell digital vouchers for them.
Does e5 Bakehouse take cash?
No. e5 Bakehouse take card payments only, and they state on their own contact page that they do not accept American Express. The London Fields arch is wheelchair accessible with bike parking outside, and the surrounding streets are permit holders only between 8.30am and 6.30pm on weekdays.
Which London bakery is in a railway arch?
e5 Bakehouse, at arches 395 to 397 on Mentmore Terrace by London Fields in Hackney. It began in spring 2010 when the founder returned from a short sourdough course and built a clay oven in the corner of the arch, fuelled with off cuts from local carpenters. London Fields overground station sits directly above the bakery.
Written by Robert J Wills, no. 125 in the guide.
Last checked 28 September 2026 against the venues' own published information. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no bookings.
