St. John Bakery celebrates its reopening after a year of refurbishment

London’s St. John Bakery celebrated its official reopening after a year-long refurbishment.

Housed in a railway arch on Druid Street in Bermondsey, the bakery’s works began in March 2022 to meet the growing waiting list for its sourdough breads, pastries and other baked goods, including its raspberry jam doughnuts.

The refurbishment cost £300,000 with St. John bakers continuing to run the bakery. The team lost one day of baking in the year-long process.

Trevor Gulliver, co-founder of St. John, said that material shortages and delays from equipment manufacturers meant the project took longer than expected. But he added that the team is “delighted” with the outcome.

The refurbished bakery has new ovens, laminators, and a re-equipped and enlarged temperature-controlled pastry department.

Gulliver said that the bakery has “more than doubled” its capacity. Alongside stocking its own restaurants and counters in Smithfield and Covent Garden, its goods are also sold in Selfridges Food Hall, Bridge Theatre in London Bridge, and the newly opened Lightroom in King’s Cross, as well as various cafes in London.

Gulliver said: “This has been a longer and more difficult process against the backdrop of the pandemic and economic crisis, but we are better for the challenge. We’ve kept up supply of our daily breads, an important responsibility borne by all bakers, and we are now in better shape than ever to face the challenges and to enjoy the opportunities ahead, onwards.”

St. John Bakery opened in 2010 is part of the St. John hospitality group. Gulliver co-founded the business with Fergus Henderson and Jon Spiteri. The trio opened the original St. John restaurant in London's Smithfield in 1994.

Spiteri left a few years later but Henderson and Gulliver have continued to run the business, which includes the St. John Bread and Wine restaurant in Spitalfields, a restaurant in Marylebone which opened last autumn, and bakeries in Neal's Yard and Borough.