Sourdough Sophia

Thirty-five thousand pounds raised from the neighbourhood turned a lockdown kitchen table into a converted convenience store on Middle Lane, and it sold out by ten in the morning every day.

Why go

Sophia Handschuh and Jesse Sutton Jones baked at home for six months and delivered by bike, then crowdfunded their first shop, which opened days before Christmas 2020 with a socially distanced queue round the corner (London Now). The bread is sourdough made with organic locally grown milled grain, fermented for a full day, and everything comes out of the building that morning (London On The Inside). They ran out of capacity at the old shop and have since opened five more sites and a production kitchen in Bermondsey. In July 2026 the Crouch End bakery moved up the road to Topsfield Parade, into a bigger space with seating and a garden.

Order this / avoid

• Order: a loaf, which is the point. A cruffin. Croissants and danishes, early. Cheesecake if any is left.
• Avoid: turning up in the afternoon, since the habit here is selling out. Middle Lane, which is the old address. Assuming the other five shops are this one.

What locals & experts say

• London On The Inside, on the method: "Sourdough Sophia specialises in sourdough breads (duh!) made using organic locally grown milled grains and fermented for 24 hours, as well as other treats like croissants, cruffins, brownies, danishes and cheesecakes. Everything is made fresh in-house and you can see all the goods on the counter in the shop." ref
• Bridget Galton for the Ham & High, on how it started and why it grew: they "Crowdfunded £35,000 to open their first bricks and mortar bakery in Middle Lane, Crouch End. It opened days before Christmas 2020 in a converted convenience store with a socially distanced queue all the way around the corner." And then: "After selling out at 10am every day, despite buying more equipment and hiring more staff, they realised they had reached capacity and had to scale up to a second site." ref
• Nobody has assessed the baking since 2022, and four shops have opened since. That gap is the reason this entry stops where it does.

Good to know

• Where: 4 Topsfield Parade, Tottenham Lane, N8 8PR. They moved here from Middle Lane in July 2026, so older listings send you to the wrong door.
• Timing: Monday to Saturday 8am to 4.30pm, Sunday from 9am. Come in the morning.
• The other sites: Essex Road in Islington, Highgate West Hill, Perrin's Court in Hampstead, Regent's Park Road in Primrose Hill, Neal's Yard in Covent Garden, and a Bermondsey production unit that opens to the public on Fridays and Saturdays. This entry is the Crouch End shop only.
• Hygiene: no FSA rating exists for this premises. The move is weeks old and the new address has not been inspected. The other branches hold their own separate records, and none of them applies here.

Jeff's take (his words)

Nothing here is Jeff's. His saved-places export carries an empty Note for Sourdough Sophia, so jeff_note stays empty. The master row said Crouch End sourdough bakery, which the hygiene register appeared to contradict until the relocation explained it.

Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)

should-visit — Sophia Handschuh and Jesse Sutton Jones baked out of their flat during lockdown and delivered it by bike, then raised thirty-five thousand pounds from the neighbourhood and opened a converted convenience store on Middle Lane days before Christmas 2020, with a socially distanced queue round the corner. They sold out at ten in the morning every day. The bread is made with organic locally milled grain and fermented for a full twenty-four hours, and everything is baked in the building. That combination of technique and demand is a stronger signal than any roundup. In July 2026 they moved up the road to Topsfield Parade, into a bigger room with seating and a garden, which is why the address most listings carry is wrong. It sits at should-visit rather than higher for one reason: nobody has written about the baking since 2022, and they have opened four more shops and a production kitchen since then. Whether the loaves held through that is the question nobody has answered.