Ayres Bakery

Great bakery, amazing cakes, muffins and baked bread.
Snadwiches, pastries, tarts, everything tasty.
And then I met local Sheriff I mean that ginger cat 🙀

I have visited Ayres Bakery countless times over the last four decades. It is without a doubt my favourite bakery in south east London. The products are always tasty and fresh. My partner says their Cornish pasties are the best he has ever tasted and I agree!

My family have been going to Ayres for over 25 years. We always bought our birthday cakes from there. We’ve seen it change in style during that time. There was a definite period where the quality dipped. I visited the bakery and was told (very curtly) they don’t do birthday cakes - which is fair enough. Their produce looks much better in quality now. However; it’s such a stressful and chaotic experience buying anything in there. I did not enjoy choosing cup cakes for my son’s birthday at all. I felt so rushed and fellow customers were bumping into each other. The staff can’t hear you and you find yourself shouting (over the food on display- not the most hygienic). I left feeling really flustered and not like I had the change to make a decision. It’s not just regular Saturday business. It was like this mid week too. I think a better system needs to be in place so people can enjoy and actually think before they buy- it’s not cheap in there! Such a shame.
Resident of Nunhead.

This bakery concerns me a bit with the lack of hygiene preparations only carried out by select staff members. Most of the time when frequenting this shop, the workers would be wearing hairnets etc. However, there is one staff member, an older lady with long hair, that I’ve never seen wear one. This is very worrying considering her hair could easily fall into the food and I don’t think this sets a very good example to the other members of staff. I always would wait make sure to wait until a staff member with a hairnet is free before I purchased and would thoroughly inspect the good just incase as this concerned me so much.

On every occasion where I’ve ever purchased items with icing they’ve come in small, thin, awful paper bags which just led to the icing sticking everywhere any making a mess. Surely it just makes more sense to just put them in boxes?

Other than this the staff are always friendly to me, especially the younger staff, and the food does taste nice. I wish the other problems didn’t occur otherwise I would still shop here today.

Bakery/Deli has a nice selection and everything looks very nice.

Even though it was busy, service was still quick and staff very friendly.

But it seems very expensive for what you get. Steak slice (£3.40) wasn't much different to that well known chain and was a bit skimpy on the meat. Sausage bap (£2.95) was ok, but nothing special.

Standard bakery.
They make good cakes and good doughnuts.

I am ot as keen on the sausage baps. It was edible but I wasn't keen on the choice of sausage used. I would of wanted more meat for the price paid.

The place is clean, the signs are clear. They have a variety of menus. The vegans are well catered for too.

Local bakery with a wide selection of breads, cakes & hot pastries.

I still love this bakery, but...
paper bags a fresh loaf do not make!

Ayres, please come up with a better solution, I can't be paying so much for bread that I can't keep fresh; additionally, your suggestion that I source my own plastic bags is silly; and finally, do you honestly think that paying extra for a suitable bag at the till is acceptable? Really?
In all truth, I now get my bread from M&S or Sainsbury's, reluctantly, I might add.

Your jam doughnuts are still amazing though, so it's not all bad.