Artisan Bakery in St Albans

The bacon and sausage ciabatta is absolutely delicious and reasonably priced for the fab quality! One of the best I've had! Will definitely be coming back here for anther one :)

We supported Loafing throughout lockdown but not anymore, the staff are incredibly and consistently rude, one in particular. If you don’t enjoy your job move on, we will be.

OMG £4.20 for a small loaf of bread outrageous! I will not be going there again!! What should I do eat it or frame it? ********************************************************************************

Beautiful spot in the centre of the village. The cakes and pastries are delicious if maybe rather over priced. Low star rating because it has to have been the worse coffee I have ever tasted in my 67 yrs! It was undrinkable. If you have an espresso machine , it might be a good idea how to learn how to use it properly. The coffee looked like dirty sock water. Very disappointing on a cold morning.

Delicious freshly made food and good but not great coffee. A fantastic place for a lunch and sit down to watch the world go by! The outside heaters are phenomenal on a chilly day. A great spot

Didn't have a good experience 😞

Delicious food and always exceptional service. Would highly recommend.

Favourite spot to stop on a Sunday morning.

When this was Usher’s Bakery many, many years ago, the place was extremely popular with the locals. I remember going in there as a child and getting Ginger Bread Men. The place has changed now and it is just as nice as before. The new lady in there with the short, black hair was very pleasant and helpful. She made the experience pleasant.

Scrumptious end to a local walk, an excellent Tuna melt on Sourdough bread, cheeky Apple Strudel and a steaming hot cup of tea. Perfection !

Superb never had a bad sarnie here, cakes lovely too. The dirty chai is a thing of beauty.

Best baguette and coffee! Friendly staff! Highly recommended

A great little bakery I go out of my way to visit.

We stopped here after a dog walk for a coffee. We ended up with coffee, a steak bake and then went back for cake! The staff were really friendly. Pastries, cake and coffee were absolutely delicious! Would recommend and can’t wait to go back!

Hi there, I have been to loafing a few times now, very impressed with your food and coffee, however I must say you never get a good welcome! It’s a shame, you feel on edge when you get in! Probably won’t go again tbf

Lovely café to sit outside. Excellent choice of cakes, pastries and filled baguettes. Today I enjoyed a delicious florentine & coffee. (Gluten free) Very reasonably priced, when they tell me how much my total is I always think they can charge more.

The best coffee I’ve ever tasted! Love everything about loafing!

Breakfasts/ lunches/ indulgent cakes. All lovely and super friendly and polite staff.

Driving past, we decided to pop in to get some rolls for lunch. We were tempted by the look of the coffee and cakes that people were eating at the outside tables, and they were indeed delicious. Great range - a perfect treat!

Great fresh bread, cakes, pastries and sandwiches.

Nice coffee sat outside in the sun

The best donuts! I really like this place, you smell the butter from the street and you are like “captured”😊

Great coffee (probably the best in the area), awesome and friendly staff. Pass through for my cupa the days I do the school run. Actually look for more reasons to pass through as the coffee is really good.

Amazing service and the best coffee around

Great food and excellent service

My go to coffee shop when I visit. Staff not very smiley or chatty but the coffee is some of the best I've ever had. Always smells nice and the food is lovely too! A bit pricey but you're paying for quality so it's definitely worth it.

A great way to end a long walk. Coffee and pastry very tasty.

Excellent coffee, exceedingly good cakes too!

Nice food and outside seating available

One of the best baguettes and croissants I’ve ever had. Magnificent. Both almond and plain croissants are delicious. Staff was friendly and other options looked very yummy as well.

I don't care how good the loaf is but £4.20 is not a reasonable price. I'm actual fact, the loaf was not that special either. Exceptionally poor value for money. Not returning.

Great bakery with nice fresh pastries!

Amazing Greek style pies & delicious Baklava. Worth the trip to Wheathampstead :D

Worst sourdough I have bought in years. Solid, poor crumb. Closed texture. Awful.

Nice bakery however can be a little slow when it comes to serving people.

Lovely little bakery in the high st. Queue bit slow in peak times. Covid measures don't help as small shop. A few tables outside to enjoy a coffee and treat. Lots of favourites to choose from. Parking free across the road behind the pub carpark.

Amazing food and amazing service

nice coffee, nice food, slow service. A bit more energy and this place could much better.

Great pastries, nice coffee, local products on the shelves, what's not to love? Only drawback is that there's often a queue to get in because everyone knows how great it is!

Absolutely charming, olde-world village bakery offering superb pastries, sandwiches, cakes and sourdough bread, plus hot and cold drinks. You should follow the sign to the free village car park. The patisserie I had there was very French in style, and none the worse for that! Thoroughly recommended for the quality of food and the people watching....

I really like Loafing as they have some cakes / snacks that other places to do. I enjoyed the Coffee, Baklava, and Florentine over my last couple of visits. I was fortunate and some outside seating has just cleared, but if there a no seats left outside, then it is only a short walk to a small park next to the River Lea (opposite the Mill Quay) or to the Crinkle Crankle gardens where there is more seating. Looking forward to the world returning to normal and enjoying a drink in a china cup and a snack on a plate rather than out a paper bag. PS “Loafing” also sells an excellent selection of bread and other goods.

Best pastry/croissant shop for miles & miles..

Our awesome local bakery with surprisingly brilliant coffee, excellent bread and way too tempting cakes 'n pastries. We love it.

Tried this place for the first time and won’t be trying it again! Was rudely told to get out the shop as there was too many people in there, yes I appreciate COVID rules but manners cost nothing, when we finally got in we asked where the sign was to show us there is 4 people only and it was inside the shop tucked away not outside where it should be. The staff weren’t bothered. We ordered our food and drinks were we ordered different flavoured milkshakes and the lady made all the same flavour we accepted them but it was annoying all she had to do was read the order! I also ordered a ham and cheese toastie which came out as warm bread if that, I took it back and the lady said that’s how it’s made you get melted cheese we don’t toast the bread! Don’t advertise a toastie if you can’t actually make one! It was disappointing. The sausage rolls were nice and hot and the coffee was a nice flavour. With a bit of work to this place and a bit of training for the staff it could be a great place to have a bite to eat.

Lovely coffee and very good vegan sausage rolls. Can also recommend the Nutella doughnuts .

Food is out of this world and at Christmas the Christmas baguette is something to behold

A lovely place for sandwiches, fresh bread, coffee and cakes.

Lovely coffee and a good selection of cakes

We'd been meaning to come here for a while and we weren't disappointed. There was a long queue due to Covid but we decided to wait it out. Nice frappes milkshakes and coffees and the blueberry bakewell was amazing. We'll definitely be planning more dog walks along the River Lea which just happen to pass by Loafing for a halfway pitstop!!! ;)

Absolutely delicious bread! I had a rustic baguette and it was nicest bread I have had in years. I would highly recommend

We just bought three cakes and three drinks and it cost £17. They were all nice to eat but we wouldn’t visit again due to the cost.

Lovely place for coffee and eats, with an added bonus of friendly staff to make your day brighter

Ordered a sharing box for a birthday brunch. Absolutely brilliant pastries, great decoration, wonderful customer service too. Highly recommend.

I love this little bakery! It looks so nice and the staff are friendly and helpful. The coffee and food were delicious. I can't wait to go back and try more.

Awesome food and service. It gets busy but then it should do!

Great bread honey and spelt is great if you want it sliced you have to ask for it the Eccles cakes ar also great, we also have french bread which is French. They also can do local delivery. In summary a great local bakery well worth a visit.

Solid queue for good food and produce. Well worth it.

Amazing bakery! Everytime we have visited loafing we have been greeted by the most friendly faces and quality customer service. The food is amazing and made with love. So pleased loafing has remained open during lockdown, What a lovely treat to take away from the craziness of the world at the moment! Keep up the good work loafing team, We fully support you!

Good prices for snacks and friendly service

Good produce good service Just been in the staff totally ignored me when I complained that there were 6 peaple crammed into the space available Covid restriction need policing Tear 3!!!!!

Another well run local business - a better range of fresh pastries than most. Good coffee and friendly staff.

Super cute cafe with loads of options and good vegan options! Coffee was so good with a hazelnut syrup. Staff were attentive and friendly. Had a really nice vibe and clean style.

The food is good but my goodness the service needs to improve. I appreciate they are busy with very little open right now, but they can’t wait to get you paid up and out the door! The menu isn’t clear, so not easy to order quickly, you are very rushed. Wouldn’t mind but twice out of 3 baits I’ve had either the wrong food or incomplete order. Certainly won’t be my first choice anymore.

Well organised for Covid, lovely variety of all bakery goods and coffee. Lovely friendly staff

What a god send. The Xmas bap bought joy to our week and tge Apple Strudels put us back in festive spirits. Highly recommended when Lockdown fever is looming.

Delicious bread and sandwiches. Very friendly staff. Reasonable prices.

Amazing choice for a delivery! BEST Sausage, Egg and Bacon Baguette ever - a must try. No other bakery compares to this breakfast as not too salty and good quality bacon. A cappuccino each to finish it off. . . . but the treat didn't stop there. Their Bakewell tart with almonds was a different level to anything else I have tried. However the coconut cheesecake wasn't quite a cheesecake we expected, it was more a puff pastry turnover, still exceedingly nice. The extra star would be given had the sausage been a better quality. Delivered within an hour and still hot - brilliant service and we will definitely order again. #supportlocalbusiness

I am from Wheathampstead so I come here quite a lot. I am going to write a review of when me and my best friend came here. I came to the bakers to get some food with my best friend to eat in the crinkle crackle walls. I got a cheese and ham panini and smoothie. My best friend got a sausage roll and a smoothie too. The treats here are lovely and attractive. Recently, they have decorated the inside so there are some cups and mugs and glasses to get. Also the fridge where the drinks are is really nicely decorated. This place does milkshakes. If you where coming here, I would recommend a panini, vanilla milkshake, sable which is shortbread with chocolate chips. Please come here and I will guarantee that you will have nice food. If I could say anything, it would be too have water in bottles easier too carry then glass bottles.

Delicious coffee and food, friendly staff, lovely premises and location, outside tables.

Friendly bakery with good coffee

The food is covered in ants. Food hygiene is clearly not a priority here.

During lockdown we had a regular delivery for our road - really cheered us all up. Excellent standard.

Nice bakery, good range of products however very pricey! Service also very slow despite having 5 people working behind the counter.

Lovely products but no enough staff to serve so you have to wait 30 minutes to get a coffee.

Great baguettes and the apple strudels were delicious 😊

Best bakery. Proper croissants. My favourite is the sourdough baguette. Really nice staff, and good coffee too.

It's an ok bakers... £2.60 for a luke warm steak slice 😲. Not much meat in it either !!! Hi, Thanks for your reply.  My email is garydraper232@gmail.com I dont pass there as often as I used to but appreciate it. Thanks

Have just had a delivery of hot cross buns & a selection on loaves , l ordered first thing this morning & they were delivered by 11 am still warm . Fantastic service and product in such difficult time we are facing! I hope you continue.

prepared to bring me a coffee a couple of miles in the lockdown, so helpful and enterprising and wonderful customer setvicesetvice

Having not used for a while I thought I would give it another go. Just bought the worst sausage roll I’ve ever had if I was still in the village I would of returned it! Not hot hardly even warm lack of sausage and pastry was hard. So can safely say I will not return. Yuck

So loafing has very much become one of my Saturday morning pre hockey match routines...it’s a delight to find such a lovely small business and it’s a greater to support them...I’ll be seen ordering my sausage and egg roll and latte every Saturday during the season!

We stopped off here after visiting George Bernard Shaws corner. NationalTrust as there is no tea shop there.From the outside it looked inviting and the cakes on display were tempting. We both had a sausage roll and coffee to eat in and cake to take away.The sausage roll looked lovely but upon biting on it we discovered it had a small ordinary sausage in it and not made with sausage meat which was strange and disappointing. My husband had a regular coffee and had to return it as it tasted peculiar, I tried it and agreed. However staff were happy to replace but still the same taste. Not sure if it was the milk or how they clean the pipes but they need to taste what they make as a suggestion in the future.

Extensive menu, lovely fried egg rolls

Nice coffee, good service, good place to sit outside and watch the world go by

Great little bakery, love them 5 stars all day

Great food served. Good choices and the food is fresh and cooked very well.

Great local bakery selling good bread and baked goods. Not to mention their salads

Great coffee, great bread, great service

Delicious brie, salad and coleslaw malted roll. With lovely service and a smile 🙂👍🏻

Great sausage baguette, sit outside and watch the world go by

Food is lovely, had a cornish pasty and the service is great they even filled up my water bottle. It was the stop in the middle of a 7 hour walk and it was worth it

When Artisan at Marshalswick closed down I was devastated, because I'd come to rely on their delicious large seeded wholemeal. It was quite out of this world.My dismay then turned to delight when I discovered the same baker traded under the name Loafing in Wheathampstead, so I cheerfully made the 10 mile round trip on a weekly basis to stock up my freezer with the same delicious loaves.But now they tell me they are no longer going to bake it because there isn't enough demand and I'm utterly devastated once again. I cannot face going back to the dross you get from ordinary bakers so I don't know what I'm going to do.

Great bread and sandwiches. Also the cakes are good. Actually everything is good.

Good Coffee with a range of different milks

After a refurbishment “The Artisan Bakery” became “Loafing” – a lot more space has been created inside for tables and chairs. Several copies of the “I” newspaper were available.As it was a hot sunny day, I opted to sit outside. I ordered, and paid for, food and drinks at the counter, then the items were brought out to me.“Loafing” sells an excellent selection of bread, cakes and snacks. I enjoyed the Baklava, coffee and a read of their newspaper.

Very good since the recent (ish) refit. Good choice of bread, cakes, tea, coffee, hot and cold snacks. A few tables in the back and some out front of the sun's out.

We have eaten here a few times now and it's always lovely. The staff are friendly and the food is tasty. The only problem I have is the lack of toilet facilities. Fine for a short visit though.

Having a daughter with a peanut allergy bakeries are typically off limits due to the high risk of cross-contamination between products. Here, however, the produce is safe for my daughter, and tasty too, so she 'feels normal' when we go. It's small, but absolutely does the job! :-)

Very helpful and freindly bar staff.

Great cup of tea and open at 8 for cyclists!