STORY: Suffolk bakery named best in the country

A bakery and culinary gem at the heart of its community in Suffolk has been named as the best bakery in the UK, after it won the top title at the 2024 National Bakery Awards.

Nestled in the charming village of Orford on Suffolk's Heritage Coast, Pump Street Bakery stands as a testament to the art of traditional baking and chocolate making.

Founded in November 2010 by the father-daughter duo Chris and Joanna Brennan, this small bakery and café has grown from humble beginnings to become a celebrated name in the culinary world.

"It means more than you can imagine, because we're so rural," says Joanna. "We're in a village of 800 permanent residents at the end of a road, and so people don't happen upon us. We're really committed to what we want to do, and we want to bring the best to our community. We do that just with our own knowledge that we're doing matters, but then to hear that it matters to other people. Yes, it's really, really special." 

The 2024 National Bakery Awards winners

The best bakeries around

While Pump Street Bakery won the overall title at the National Bakery Awards, the evening also handed out other accolades to Regional Winners from across the UK.

The winners, which can be found below, were selected from a prestigious group of bakeries that had already been named as the best in the counties. They all attended the awards to discover which sites had been named as the finest in their regions.

What's more, a handful of other awards were handed out on the evening, including the Social Enterprise Bakery of the Year and the Outstanding Contribution to the Bakery Industry. 

THE NATIONAL BAKERY AWARDS 2024 WINNERS 

• NATIONAL BAKERY OF THE YEAR, Pump Street Bakery
• EAST OF ENGLAND, Pump Street Bakery
• EAST MIDLANDS, Birds of Derby 
• NORTHERN IRELAND, Knead Bakery
• WALES, Henllan Bakery
• NORTH EAST, Northern Rye 
• NORTH WEST, Lovingly Artisan 
• SOUTH EAST, Open Bakery 
• SOUTH WEST, Ryders Homemade Bakery
• WEST MIDLANDS, Peter Cooks Bread
• YORKSHIRE & THE HUMBER, Two Dales Bakery
• NORTH SCOTLAND, The Bread Guy 
• SOUTH SCOTLAND, Christie the Baker 
• Social Enterprise Bakery of the Year, Big River Bakery 
• Outstanding Contribution to the Bakery Industry, Sylvia Macdonald 
• ABIM Young Baker of the Year, Jazzy Hudson
• ABST Young Baker of the Year, Jo Dainton
• CBA Young Baker of the Year, William Raeper
• Worshipful Young Baker of the Year, Shannon Lake

The National Bakery Awards will return in 2025. 

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