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Bread Ahead will open a flagship bakery, restaurant, and baking school at the £3 billion Wembley Park mixed-use project overseen by the developers responsible for the Communist Party-inspired London Underground advertising for “the rental revolution.”
The space, described as “a stone’s throw away to the world-famous National Stadium (and just two tube stops from Baker Street),” will encompass a 220-cover restaurant, a bakery — natch — a deli, and the baking school that has become popular at the Borough Market and Chelsea sites.
Expect the familiar sourdough breads, pastries, focaccia, and doughnuts, as well as a new foray into extremely on trend ‘sourdough’ pizza; coddled eggs at breakfast; and some pretty retro desserts, including banana split. The opening will join Boxpark’s off-street street food shipping container emporium, which has just announced a new raft of operators; it also sits close to the London Designer Outlet, which houses its own cast of casual dining brands.
With £3 billion spent on the development, largely poured into private rental and these restaurant developments, the trajectory of the area might be well summed up by the imminent arrival of a bakery whose flagship is sourdough bread; residents’ concerns over the impact on areas in close proximity but not ‘regenerated’ have been well documented. Quintain claims that its project is delivering £140 million in investment that will go into “a new three form entry primary school and nursery, a new GP’s surgery and community meeting spaces.”
Matthew Jones founded Bread Ahead in 2013, quickly earning a following for the bakery’s sourdough bread and pillowy doughnuts, marshalled by Justin Gellatly, who brought his recipe over from Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver’s St. John, where he had been head baker.
Bread Ahead will open at Wembley Park this autumn. More soon.