Fernandez & Wells founder to launch craft bakery offering vegan and gluten free breads

Specialising in sweet and savoury slow-fermented craft baking, Fortitude Bakehouse says it will be the first bakery in London to offer sourdough cakes alongside gluten free and vegan options.

The bakery will open on 1 March in an old stable mews at 25 Colonnade near Russell Square station, serving breakfast, lunch and cakes from 8am to 5pm, primarily for takeaway, and with the potential for wholesale.

Breads will include the likes of fermented barabrith with honey and black tea; lemon, yoghurt and poppy seed sourdough; and squash, cardamom, pumpkin seed and chia seed.

Biscuits and cakes including buckwheat and vanilla cream biscuits; lemon, rosewater and pistachio buns; and apple and thyme crumbles with chestnut flour will be served all day.

Fernandez was an influential player in the new wave of UK coffee culture, having managed Monmouth Coffee Company for six years before founding London based café chain Fernandez & Wells.

Baker and cook Rettali founded Patisserie Organic in 1998, and began supplying cakes to Fernandez’ business before joining him as operations manager of his company.

Fortitude Bakery’s interiors will feature sustainable materials like Norfolk oak counters and quarry tiled floors. An open bakery will show the bakers at work, and will also be used to hold regular baking classes and workshops.

Bakery brands such as Paul, Le Pain Quotidien and Gail’s Artisan Bakery continue to lead in the artisan bakery sector, although the market is attracting new entrants.

Danish brand Ole & Steen, which runs more than 50 bakeries in Denmark under the Lagkagehuset bakery brand, entered the UK in 2016 and is due to have five sites open by the end of the year.

More generally, the bakery market is dominated by high street giant, Greggs, which has around 1,600 more cafes than its nearest competitor.