Quince Bakery
Landrace Milling stone-mills their flour in Somerset, which is the difference between a bakery that talks about British produce and one that has gone and organised it.
Why go
Anna Higham was head of pastry at Lyle's, ran the bakery at Flor, and was executive pastry chef at The River Café before she opened this with Paris Barghchi in February 2024, part-funded by a GBP 40,000 crowdfunder (Restaurant; Islington Gazette). The sourdough runs on UK-grown stoneground flour, and the bakery names where it comes from: the flour milled for us on Landrace Milling's New American Stonemill (in Somerset)
, from producers practising agro-ecological and organic methods
(Quince Bakery).
The menu moves with what those producers have, and the bakery is specific about it rather than hiding behind the word seasonal: strawberry hand pies and apricot custard buns in summer, a quince and rice pudding tart in autumn, quince aioli through the roast pork sandwich, then winter apples, rhubarb and citrus. The shelves carry cheese, wine, olive oil and honey alongside the bread.
What is coming: Clementine, a sit-down breakfast, brunch and lunch room from the same founder, opening directly across New North Road in September 2026, crowdfunding GBP 50,000 for the fit-out. Higham on it: "The goal is to continue the community feel we have built at Quince Bakery with a similarly joyful and creative menu."
Order this / avoid
- Order: the brown butter bun. India Lawrence's description is the one to go on:
The pillowy roll has a nugget of butter baked into its centre, and is topped with a crunchy craquelin. The taste is treacly and a little bit salty
1. Then a loaf, and whatever fruit is in that week. - Avoid: turning up late for a specific bake, and turning up expecting somewhere to sit. That room opens opposite in September.
What locals & experts say
- India Lawrence, Time Out, five stars out of five, 20 July 2026:
This homely bakehouse whips up gloriously imperfect buns, tarts, cakes, pies, cookies, scones and all manner of other pastries. Using seasonal produce, expect to see things like a peach and custard bun or a ratatouille galette.
She also rates the bread:Quince also makes fantastic bread (which you can experience via a whole loaf or one of their tasty sandwiches).
1 - Joe Lutrario, Restaurant, 28 May 2026, on where the baker comes from: head of pastry at Lyle's, bakery lead at Flor, executive pastry chef at The River Café. That is reporting, and it is the pedigree that explains the bread.3
- Bridget Galton, Islington Gazette, 5 June 2026, on what the neighbourhood makes of it: the crowdfunder copy calls Quince
the much-loved neighbourhood bakery on New North Road
anda cornerstone of the Islington community since opening in early 2024
, and the appeal had passed GBP 10,000 with three weeks left.4 - No chef has named it. London's industry-recommendation corpus holds 622 picks and Quince appears in none of them, which for a bakery run by a Lyle's and River Café pastry chef is more likely a gap in the mining than a verdict.
Good to know
- Where: 267 New North Road, N1 7AA, on the Islington side of the road.
- Timing: a morning proposition. No source fetched on 1 August 2026 exposes the opening hours, so check before a special trip.
- What else it sells: cheese, wine, olive oil and honey, plus hot and cold drinks and sandwiches on their own bread.
- Hygiene: FSA rating 4, FHRSID 1696982, inspected 28 March 2024, Islington. Generally satisfactory, and over two years old.5
- Michelin: no standing, and a daytime bakery sits outside the guide's usual scope. Checked against the cached 2026 London list, which holds stars only.
Verdict
should-visit — Anna Higham ran pastry at Lyle's, then the bakery at Flor, then was executive pastry chef at The River Cafe, and Quince is the first room that is hers. The tell that this is not just a good CV in a shopfront is the flour: it is milled for them on Landrace Milling's New American Stonemill in Somerset, and the bakery says every shelf item has traceable provenance back to producers farming agro-ecologically or organically. The menu turns with what that produce does, and the bakery names it rather than gesturing at it: strawberry hand pies and apricot custard buns through summer, a quince and rice pudding tart in autumn, quince aioli spilling out of the roast pork sandwich. India Lawrence gave it five out of five for Time Out eleven days before this was written and named the bake to get, a brown butter bun with a nugget of butter baked into the middle and craquelin cracked over the top, treacly and a little salty. It holds at a detour rather than a trip because that five-star is the only third-party verdict there is: no chef in the London industry survey names it, and no guide lists it. A second room from the same founder, Clementine, opens directly opposite in September.