The best croissants in Holloway

The best croissants in Holloway

The Best Croissants in Holloway (and the Brilliant Bakeries Nearby)

There is a particular kind of Saturday morning that Londoners know well. The kind where the light is doing something generous through the kitchen window, the coffee is almost ready, and the question — the only question that really matters — is where to get the croissant. Not a croissant from a petrol station forecourt wrapped in cellophane. A proper one: shattering at the first pull, layers of lacquered pastry giving way to a soft, buttery interior that leaves your fingers briefly wonderful. In Holloway and the streets that ripple out from it — Tufnell Park, Crouch End, Finsbury Park, Archway — the answer has never been better. Weekend breakfast delivery London hasn't displaced the pleasure of walking to fetch one yourself, but it helps to know exactly where you're going.

The Best Bakeries for Croissants in and Around Holloway

1. Holloway Model Bakery

📍 66 Georges Road, Holloway, N7 8HX · Rating: 4.6/5 (Google) · Open daily 9:00am–3:00pm

Michelle Eshkeri, the founder of the much-loved Margot Bakery in East Finchley, opened this welcoming community bakery and café in August 2022 — and Holloway has been lining up for it ever since. The rotating daily counter includes croissants and pain au chocolat alongside almond bear claws, apple custard danishes, babka, and Victoria plum slices, all made with the kind of care that makes a ten-minute walk feel entirely worth it. It's reviewed by the Good Food Guide and championed fiercely by the local neighbourhood, which is really the only endorsement that matters. Go early — the counter moves fast.

hollowaymodelbakery.square.site

2. Bread By Bike

📍 30 Brecknock Road, Tufnell Park, N7 0DD · Rating: 4.6/5 (Google) · Open daily 8:00am–4:00pm

Former physicist Andy Strang began baking during his PhD, crowdfunded his way to a proper bakery, and created one of the most principled and genuinely exciting artisan operations in North London. Bread By Bike turns out deeply flavoured, open-crumbed naturally leavened sourdough and artisan pastries, and delivers much of it by cargo bicycle — zero emissions, every delivery. Featured in Time Out and Hot Dinners, this is a bakery with a clear conscience and an even clearer flavour. The croissants and pastries are a natural counterpart to some of the finest bread in N7.

breadbybike.com

3. Jolene Big Jo

📍 318–326 Hornsey Road, Holloway, N7 7HE · Rating: 4.5/5 · Mon 8:00am–3:00pm; Tue–Sun 8:00am–4:00pm

The larger, airier sibling of the acclaimed Jolene in Newington Green, Big Jo brings the full provenance-led philosophy of the group to a spacious Hornsey Road space that doubles as a bakery counter and all-day restaurant. What makes Jolene genuinely singular is that they mill their own flour from ancient, non-hybridised grain varieties grown using horse-drawn machinery — that philosophy carries straight through to the laminated pastries, which have a depth and nuttiness that commercially milled flour simply cannot touch. Michelin-recognised and Eater-recommended, this is a serious destination for anyone who cares about where their croissant comes from.

jolenebakery.com

4. Boulangerie Bon Matin

📍 178 Tollington Park, Finsbury Park, N4 3AJ · Rating: 4.3/5 (Google) · Mon–Fri 7:00am–4:30pm; Sat–Sun 7:00am–5:30pm

In continuous operation since 2010 under the same husband-and-wife team, Boulangerie Bon Matin is one of North London's most enduring independent French bakeries — the kind of place that earns loyalty not through novelty but through reliable, honest daily excellence. The viennoiseries are freshly made every morning: proper croissants, pain au chocolat, sourdough baguettes, and a wide range of cakes and pastries all set against bare brick walls and a conservatory-roofed dining room that feels genuinely Parisian in the best possible sense. Featured in Time Out and Hot Dinners. Fifteen years of doing it well is its own award.

boulangeriebonmatin.co.uk

5. Dunn's Bakery

📍 6 The Broadway, Crouch End, N8 9SN · Rating: 4.4/5 (Google) · Tues–Fri 7:00am–6:00pm; Sat 6:00am–6:00pm; Sun 7:00am–5:00pm

Few bakeries anywhere in the country can claim what Dunn's can: over two hundred years of continuous family baking, with sixth-generation baker Lewis Freeman now at the helm of a dynasty that stretches back to 1820. The Crouch End Broadway shopfront sells handmade breads, sourdoughs, babka, jammy doughnuts, and sausage rolls in a welcoming space that feels like the neighbourhood's living room. Widely featured as one of North London's most historic artisan bakeries, this is a place that earns its reputation not through Instagram aesthetics but through two centuries of getting it right every morning.

dunns-bakery.co.uk

6. Sourdough Sophia — Crouch End

📍 24 Middle Lane, Crouch End, N8 8PL · Rating: 4.7/5 (Google) · Daily 8:40am–4:30pm

What began in Sophia Sutton Jones' dining room during lockdown in 2020 has grown into a four-location North London micro-bakery empire — and this Middle Lane flagship is where it all started. The hand-laminated croissants here are the real draw: technically precise, properly buttery, and made with the obsessive care of a baker who built a business from scratch because she simply couldn't stop. Iced cinnamon buns, matcha chocolate slices, spinach and feta swirls, and exceptional sourdough loaves fill the counter alongside perfectly constructed sandwiches. Award-winning, featured in Retail Bulletin, and among the British Baker's best small artisan bakeries. Worth every step of the bus from Holloway.

sourdoughsophia.co.uk

7. Tarn Bakery

📍 83 Hazellville Road, Archway, N19 3NB · Rating: 4.8/5 (Google) · Tues 8:30am–2:00pm; Wed–Fri 8:00am–3:00pm; Sat 9:00am–3:00pm

Opened in December 2023 by Florin Grama — formerly of Pophams, Flor, and St Barts — and Felix Ortona Coles, Tarn is the kind of small-batch bakery that serious pastry people travel across London for. They use UK wheat from Bruern Farms and Gilchesters, dairy from The Estate Dairy, chocolate from Pump Street, and that sourcing fanaticism shows in every bite. Their almond croissants are outstanding. So are the cardamom buns and seasonal pastries, which rotate with the kind of editorial intelligence you'd expect from bakers trained at two of London's most respected establishments. Reviewed by the Good Food Guide. Open just four days a week, which only makes it more worth planning around.

tarnbakery.co.uk

8. La Fromagerie — Highbury

📍 30 Highbury Park, Highbury, N5 2AA · Rating: 4.5/5 (Google) · Mon–Wed 9:00am–6:00pm; Thur–Fri 9:00am–7:00pm; Sat 9:00am–6:00pm; Sun 9:30am–4:00pm

Patricia Michelson's legendary food institution needs little introduction to anyone who has spent more than a week paying attention to London's artisan food world. The Highbury Park outpost is a beautifully curated deli, café, and bakery all at once — producing sourdough loaves, focaccia, seasonal tarts, and artisan pastries that are designed to sit alongside one of the finest cheese counters in the city. Featured in virtually every major food guide and internationally renowned, a visit here is about more than the pastry: it's an argument for honest, principled food done with total commitment. One of the finest all-round food experiences in North London, full stop.

lafromagerie.co.uk

What If Getting There Isn't Always an Option?

Here's the thing about London's best bakeries: they're often small, often cash-only in spirit, frequently sold out by 10am, and occasionally only open four days a week. The neighbourhood bakery renaissance has been genuinely wonderful — but it has also made weekend mornings a mild logistical sport. Which is, in part, why the rise of artisan breakfast delivery London has felt less like a convenience and more like a lifeline. People aren't substituting the experience of visiting a great bakery; they're extending it to the mornings when the rain is horizontal or the children are feral before 8am.

What's interesting is that the most thoughtful players in the pastry subscription UK space have taken their cues directly from the bakeries on this list — prioritising provenance, reducing waste, and rethinking delivery itself. Bike delivery food London models, zero-waste bakery London operations baking strictly to order, and sustainable food delivery London approaches built around recyclable packaging are no longer niche. They're becoming the expectation. And rightly so.

Why We Love Butter & Crust

If you want that Saturday morning croissant moment without leaving the house — or you want to share it with friends across the city who don't live near a Tarn or a Sourdough Sophia — Butter & Crust is worth knowing about. They've built their bread subscription London offering around partnerships with the best local artisan producers in the city, delivering sourdough, croissants, pastries, and breakfast goods to your door by 9am every weekend. Inner London deliveries go out by bicycle. Packaging is fully recyclable. Everything is baked to order — there is no surplus, no waste, no sad display-case leftovers.

The subscription is genuinely flexible: pause it, skip a week, cancel whenever — no dark-pattern guilt trips. They currently cover most of London zones 1–3 and are expanding. It's the kind of thing a food-loving friend would quietly tell you about on a Sunday, standing in their kitchen, holding a very good croissant. Consider this that conversation.

Find out more at Butter & Crust →

Sources

Editorial sources:

  • Good Food Guide — Holloway Model Bakery, Tarn Bakery
  • Time Out London — Bread By Bike, Boulangerie Bon Matin
  • Hot Dinners — Bread By Bike, Boulangerie Bon Matin, Tarn Bakery
  • Eater London — Jolene Big Jo
  • Retail Bulletin, December 2025 — Sourdough Sophia
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