Coughlan's Bakery in Croydon

MORE THAN A BAKERY-A CAKE LOVERS HEAVEN, VEGANS WELCOME AT COUGHLANS, ADDISCOMBE COUGHLAN’s Bakery on Lower Addiscombe Road is in the suburb of Croydon. It has been there since 1937 and seen a lot of changes. Not only does it make lovely fresh Artisan bread, but it has also changed itself into a restaurant that specialises in providing vegan food to eat. In good weather there are tables outside. What our family like about it is that none of the inside tables are ever wobbly and that there are free newspapers provided. The place is clean and bright. You can sit in the brown comfortable bucket chairs for a long time with just a cup of coffee and read the paper from end to end. You will not be bothered by the extremely friendly staff. I sat at the end near an old fireplace which is a quite pleasant and quiet place to be. One makes orders at the counter but the staff brings your order to the table. There is easy access to the toilet should you need one, but you must show a receipt of purchase in order to get the key! This keeps it out of general use and therefore very clean and well looked after. Around the beige and wood decorated walls there are black-and-white photographs dating from the early 1900s and showing the changes of scene that have occurred in the locality. In contrast written on chalkboards are funny messages relating to the cakes. And what wonderful handcrafted quality cakes you can get here. Order your special ones for birthdays and other special occasions. I saw samples of some. There were cakes in the shape of Spider-Man’s Face, a football complete with scarf, a plate of cheeseburger and fries plus tomato sauce, football badges, cricketing themes and to cap it all -Thomas the Tank Engine which looks as if he could drive off the table! Chocolate lovers this is heaven. They make cakes which serve 20 to 30 people which are dripping with chocolate and every kind of chocolate bar. For the vegans there are 4 choices available-also with chocolate!