Three Great Bakeries Near Pimlico
In our last trip to London (see post here), we stayed in a neighborhood called Pimlico. Pimlico is sandwiched between the neighborhoods of Chelsea, Belgravia, and Westminster, with its southern border along with Thames. It is very close to the Tate Britain and to Victoria Station—very convenient to transportation and to Gatwick Airport!
I had only every walked through Pimlico, so I was excited to experience staying in a different neighborhood. And of course, if you know me and my sweet tooth at all, you know that I will quickly find which bakeries and coffee shops are the best. Over the week, I was lucky to find three bakeries with great pastries and coffee—read on to know where to go in Pimlico!
1. Chestnut Bakery Belgravia
Located just south of Victoria Station and on the busy Elizabeth Street, this bakery quickly became my favorite in the area. With great lattes and pastries, it couldn’t disappoint. I mainly got takeaway, but the place has a nicely-sized seating area too.
I tried several different pastries throughout my stay: the sticky cinnamon bun, chocolate babka bun, the pistachio raspberry croissant, and the vegan pistachio citrus roll. Even though they are all quite good, my favorites were the chocolate babka bun and the vegan pistachio citrus roll. The chocolate babka bun is very chocolatey, which did make it a bit messy to eat despite the amazing taste! It was admittedly a bit too much chocolate for my husband, who preferred the cinnamon bun (fine with me!). However, I did not enjoy the chocolate babka bun quite as much the second time due to tasting a bit of salt on top—possibly a kitchen mistake that day!
Due to this slightly salty experience, the vegan pistachio citrus roll did end up taking first place in my mind. It is very sweet in terms of icing on top. However, I enjoyed the sugary sweetness paired with my unsweetened latte.
If you don’t like icing, I highly recommend the cinnamon bun—a very solid cinnamon-sugar pastry. Not overly sweet and prepared nicely.
There are apparently a few other Chestnut Bakery locations in London, so check them out if you’re not in the Pimlico/Belgravia area.
2. The Little Bread Pedlar (“Peko Peko Pedlar”)
This very small shop is clearly a local favorite, with items selling out earlier in the morning. My husband and I only went once, but in the afternoon—we had a very limited selection of choices. We selected two cardamom orange buns and a chocolate chip cookie (for our jet-lagged toddler). I also purchased a latte and my husband chose a hot chocolate.
All of our choices were really good. I do have to give extra stars for the hot chocolate—sweet, but not overly sweet, and nicely balanced with the creamy milk. All in all, highly satisfied, although I might skip the latte and go straight for the hot chocolate next time.
Also, this bakery is located on a small side street full of cute shops. For those of you who knit or crochet, there’s an amazing shop called Beautiful Knitters across the street. These shops are conveniently located just a twelve minute walk from the Tate Britain—a perfect walk while munching on your selected pastry!
3. Gail’s
Gail’s is a well-known bakery chain in London. Some locations are just takeaway and some have indoor seating. The location close to Victoria Station has indoor seating—which is also great because then they will have the full compliment of items on offer. I have never been so annoyed to go into a takeaway-only Gail’s and not be able to get jam and clotted cream with my scone!!
Their scones are wonderful—a perfect foundation for the addition of your chosen toppings. I also recommend their cinnamon buns. However, I do not recommend the pistachio, lemon, and rose cake. It tasted greasy and lacked the compliment of promised flavors. Just stick with the scones and cinnamon buns! I’m guessing that the sandwiches, etc, may be very good too.
My bakery crawl lauded these three favorites in the area—feel free to try these amongst your own bakery crawl! Of the three, my overall favorite is Chestnut Bakery. However, I would love to go back to The Little Bread Pedlar in the morning to see and try more of their items. Until then, this one is a close second place. Gail’s is in third place overall—but, if I’m looking for a scone then I will go there! The other two places don’t seem to have those on offer.
Happy munching!
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