Fortitude Bakehouse

Fortitude Bakehouse is London at its most likeable: a tiny craft bakery on Colonnade in Bloomsbury, close to Russell Square, where the queue moves with the quiet discipline of people who have done this before. It opened in 2018, founded by baker Dee Rettali with Jorge Fernandez, and the whole place runs on a simple promise: slow fermentation, sourdough craft, and bakes that taste deeper than their good looks suggest. 

Come for pastries and coffee, then plan your day accordingly. Think takeaway energy, a few perches, and London pavements doing the job of a dining room.  The must try is the filled beignet, released like a weekly headline, lavish, cream packed, and slightly ridiculous in the way all great city treats should be.