It’s Bagels

The bagels here are boiled before they are baked, and that is the whole argument. It’s Bagels runs a narrow London counter built on New York-style bagels, filled bagels and bagel sandwiches, and very little else.

New York method, London counter

The focus is direct: bagels, filled bagels and bagel sandwiches, with the bagel as the product rather than one item among croissants, cakes, sourdough loaves and tarts. The method is what carries it. Boiling the dough before baking is the traditional New York step, and it is what gives the crumb its density and chew and the crust its colour and slight crispness. That technique is the clearest craft signal on the counter, and the menu stays deliberately short so it can be repeated at volume. Instead of a general café spread, the shop does one American format properly.

Fast, bright, built for moving

The rhythm is grab-and-go, closer to a New York bagel shop than a London café where people settle in. The first site opened in Primrose Hill in September 2023, in a former butcher’s shop in a leafy north London neighbourhood already full of independent food businesses. Notting Hill followed in August 2024, putting the brand into a busy stretch of shops and restaurants with both local and visitor traffic.

Soho, which opened in late October 2024, is the clearest city-centre expression of the format: a compact counter built for the pace of the West End rather than for lingering. Across the sites the experience is the same, and it is the reason the queue keeps moving: order at the front, take the bagel, keep walking.

Order the filled bagel first

Start with a filled bagel or a bagel sandwich, which is the main event in this format: a split bagel built into a complete savoury order rather than bread with something on the side. The menu is centred there, so it is also the most representative way to approach the counter.

If you prefer things plain, take the bagel on its own and read the chew, the crust and the compact density that define the style; it is the honest test of whether the boiling step has been done properly. Do not come expecting viennoiserie, cakes, muffins, tarts, challah or a European bread programme. The proposition is narrow on purpose: a London counter specialising in New York bagels, built for speed and consistency.