Holloway Model Bakery

The counter at this London bakery is built around sourdough pastries, babka and seeded loaves, with Holloway Model Bakery carrying the Margot Bakery line into a former metalworks.

Sourdough is the thread through the bake

The programme is bread first, even when the order looks like breakfast. Plain sourdough, seeded sourdough and challah sit beside pastries made with the same sourdough emphasis, so the case does not divide neatly between bread and sweets. The bakery also sells sourdough starter, a small but telling detail, because it places the ferment in public rather than treating it as back-room mystique. The sweet side keeps that structure: sourdough pain au chocolat, sourdough almond croissant, sourdough cinnamon bun, sourdough pain aux raisins and a danish with custard and seasonal fruit. On the savoury side, the dough carries fillings such as ricotta, spinach and feta, while the egg mayo sandwich uses sourdough as its base. The breakfast bowl brings in homemade hazelnut granola, Greek yogurt from Estate Dairy and seasonal fruit, which gives the counter one named sourcing point beyond flour and ferment.

A working bakery counter, not a pastry showroom

The room works like a neighbourhood bakery with coffee, rather than a café that happens to bake. Service is at the counter, the goods are made to move, and the menu reads in practical categories: savouries, sourdough pastries, breads, cakes, packed goods, breakfast bowls, hot drinks and cold drinks. That matters because the decision is quick. Regulars tend to read the case from bread outward, then add coffee if they are staying for the pull or walking on with a bag. The site itself has a useful past life, an old metalworks taken over for a bakery that opened softly in 2022, and it keeps a production-room directness. It also hosts community events, including INKLINGS Unwritten, which says something about the scale of the place: local enough to be a daytime bakery, flexible enough to become a small evening room when needed.

Order the babka, then take bread home

Start with the Chocolate Sourdough Babka, either by the slice or as a half cake if it is for a table later. It is the order that explains the bakery quickest, enriched, sweet and built on the same sourdough habit that runs through the loaves. If the morning is leaning pastry, the Sourdough Pain Au Chocolat is the clean first choice; the Sourdough Almond Croissant is richer, and better when breakfast is the point rather than a snack. For savoury, the Ricotta, Spinach and Feta Pastry is the one to pick before the sandwich, because it shows how the bakery handles filled dough rather than simply using sourdough as a carrier. Add a cappuccino if coffee is part of the stop. Leave with a Seeded Sourdough or challah if the bag has room; those are the items that make the walk feel useful after the pastry is gone.