A North West specialist in sourdough bread, with a branch in Greater Manchester, has been named the best artisan bakery in the UK for the second year in a row. Placing number one in the 2024 Bakers’ Dozen, a list of the best artisan bakeries in Britain voted for by over 100 specialists, was Lovingly Artisan Bakery.
The bakery which has two North West locations – Kendal in Cumbria and Altrincham in Greater Manchester – was revealed as the winner at the second ever meeting of The Artisan Collective, held at The Compound, Birmingham on January 30. The Artisan Collective is an initiative created by British Baker, a B2B publication for the baking industry, to celebrate artisan bakeries and the people behind them while offering a platform to facilitate conversations and share skills.
An artisan bakery is where baked goods – such as sourdough, bread, buns, pastries, and cakes and more – are made by skilled bakers by hand, often utilising longer and more traditional processes. Quality of ingredients and the end products are high on the agenda, and as a result, artisan bakeries typically only have a handful of sites.
When it came down to voting time for the Bakers’ Dozen more than 100 specialists, including artisan bakers, consultants, suppliers, and lecturers, were asked to vote for their favourite artisan bakeries. Each voter was hand-selected by British Baker with the voters broken down by region to ensure bakeries across Britain had an equal opportunity to shine.
However, Lovingly Artisan Bakery on Altrincham’s Greenwood Street was not alone in representing the North West region when it comes to artisan baked goods. Manchester bakery Pollen also featured in the list of the best artisan bakeries in the UK, coming in at 12th place and beating Cottonrake Bakery in Glasgow.
The 2024 Bakers’ Dozen
- Lovingly Artisan – Cumbria and Greater Manchester
- Bread Source – Norfolk
- The Dusty Knuckle – London
- Northern Rye – Newcastle upon Tyne
- Farro – Bristol
- The Street Bakeshop – Basingstoke
- Toad – London
- Poppyseed Bakery – Eastbourne
- Bostock Bakery – Berwick
- Stir Bakery – Cambridge
- Arôme – London
- Pollen – Manchester
- Cottonrake Bakery – Glasgow
Commenting on their win, Aidan Monks and Catherine Connor, the owners of Lovingly Artisan Bakery said: “Winning top spot in the Bakers’ Dozen last year was amazing. To win it for the second year in a row hasn’t really sunk in.
“We’re thrilled to be included in the top 13, but being voted the UK’s number one artisan bakery is the cherry on top, especially knowing that our industry peers have voted for us. Hopefully everything that we try to do day in day out for our customers has struck a chord and has begun to influence more and more artisan bakeries up and down the country to put quality, wholesome, healthy breads at the heart of every family table again.”