Flint Owl Bakery in Mid Sussex

A lovely little bakery that does coffee and tea with a good selection of breads, pastries and savouries. Not the cheapest but the quality is very good.

A lovely little bakery that does coffee and tea with a good selection of breads, pastries and savouries. Not the cheapest but the quality is very good.

A little pricy but a nice treat. The coffee and cakes are good but I think they really excel with their savoury bits (especially the mozzarella and pesto melt). They have a good selection of Vegetarian options too.

A little pricy but a nice treat. The coffee and cakes are good but I think they really excel with their savoury bits (especially the mozzarella and pesto melt). They have a good selection of Vegetarian options too.

Here’s my dilemma. On one hand, their products are great. The coffee itself is VERY good, however, the baristas making it are incredibly inconsistent. It could be way too hot or texture not so great. The bread, pastries and food are very good. However, their service is consistently lacking. They always seem to have an attitude like theyre excluding you from something, making you feel awkward. I go there quite often sometimes to sit in, occasionally take away, Because it’s local. But the rather poor ambience/staff tends to drive me away. Also incredibly pricey

Incredibly friendly staff with excellent service - best coffee in town as well.

Loveliest little bakery and cafe! Great range of pastries, cakes, and bread. We enjoyed sitting in with coffee and pastries which were more unique than standard croissants. Everything tasted great and was worth the slightly higher prices. As we left we saw they also had an amazing array of sandwiches for lunch! Definitely recommend!

Pretty poor bakery to be honest don't sell much bread and no bread rolls and staff very rude I won't be coming back.

I don't normally leave reviews but I recently popped in this bakery after I'd been to a hospital appointment for my 2 year old son. I'm not from the area so I picked this as it looked appealing. However, I walked in and the 3 girls behind the counter were talking amongst themselves and not friendly at all making me feel very awkward. I asked if there was any ketchup for my bacon and egg sandwich and she snapped back that they didn't have any, I'd liked them to have popped some sugar in my coffee too as I was holding my child but I didn't dare ask. Very rude and not appreciative of my sale at all. I won't be going again. I'll use one of the other nice shops nearby.

Delicious cakes with plenty of gluten free and vegan offerings to ensure everyone can enjoy something, whether that be savoury or sweet. The prices are a little high but the cakes are well worth it as a treat and it's always nicer to support a local business!

Opting to support a local business for my wedding, I engaged this bakery to supply the donuts. After agreeing to a quote in September 2023, I was blindsided one month before the big day with an 80% price hike due to a purported misquote. This sudden change left me scrambling for alternatives, feeling utterly disappointed and frustrated. Upon questioning their actions, I was met with a dismissive attitude, lacking any semblance of apology or acknowledgment of their mistake. Their supposed "bespoke" nature did little to excuse their unprofessional conduct, ultimately leading me to resort to a larger corporate chain for my wedding needs. While I've found a solution, the sour taste of poor customer service lingers, leaving me deeply dissatisfied with my experience.

Excellent sourdough each time. Great product and happy to share my praise !

Food is okay but you need to drop the prices by 20%. It's overpriced. Drop your costs and people will spend more money as they don't feel like they are being ripped off.

Wonderful experience, staff warm and welcoming, the young red hair lady served us and was lovely and polite . Will be visiting again. Food was delicious and coffee was slimbime.

A very pleasant bakery with a great selection of quality pastry products. We tried sausage rolls, empanadas, cheese swirls, avocado tomato and mozarella rolls, focaccia toasties, banana bread and carrot cake, all delicious and very flavoursome.

It is not often I feel the need to post a poor review, however this is another of those occasions. I totally agree with the previous comments that the service and welcome were far from what I would expect for a service cafe. The young ladies seemed disinterested and could not be bothered. Secondly and of far more concern was the overall cleanliness of the establishment. I would seriously question the hygiene implications of having the cakes on open display in the public area, as I saw at least one child touch them during my visit. My table was covered in sauce, crumbs and had not been cleared when I sat down, it was not cleaned even when the young lady brought my food. The floor and adjacent tables were covered in crumbs and discarded food. The table beside me was left un-cleared for the whole of my visit. Lastly it was expensive for what I ate and a long way from value for money. Someone from the Flint Owl bakery needs to start taking notice of the recent reviews. I saw little point in mentioning the above to the young ladies working, as I doubt it would have had any effect. There are plenty of other places nearby to eat, I would strongly suggest using them

This was my first visit to the bakery. I wanted two bread rolls. There were four or five customers in the shop and three staff behind the counter. One was serving a customer, one was having her lunch on a ledge behind and one was just standing there either day dreaming or deliberately avoiding any contact with customers. After courteously gaining her attention I again, politely, asked her if they had any bread rolls she came straight back at me with an abrupt “No”. I went to leave when a CUSTOMER pointed out there were a few lurking out of view at the and of the display. To my shame I bought them. It’s unlikely that I will trouble them again. Lots of other choices in the town.

Generally awkward experience, staff weren’t forthcoming to take my order/ tell me how much I was paying/ thanking me for custom. I was the only person in the shop and felt I was intruding.

The bread is the best I've found especially the spelt bread which is hard to come by.

Little coffee shop packed with amazing pastries and breads! Coffee is good. Very warm and inviting with friendly staff. Would recommend a visit.

Visiting the area and took to popping in here for coffee and lunch/pastries. A great choice of food and drink on offer however the attitude from the staff present was a real let down as voiced in a previous review to which we wholeheartedly agree on. It was a real shame that all staff appeared miserable and lack lustred, we had to ask for sugar as none was set out on the table or offered when our drinks was served, and then again ask for sugar as we wasn’t given enough, we asked if there was a possibility that some chutney could be served alongside the toasted sandwich to which brown sauce and marmite was offered, when asked again if we could buy some chutney the staff member took to pointing at the £6 jar of chutney in a moody and almost rude tone. Had we have not already paid for our food and lattes we would’ve cancelled our order and left however we ate our food, drank our drinks then chose to leave knowing if in the area again, we’d not be a returning customer as we felt uncomfortable. It’s a disappointment as we could hear them with what appears to be “their locals“ and noticed a real difference in their tones and mannerisms which was far more pleasant to what we received.

Best coffee (albeit based on a small sample size) in East Grinstead. Had a small misunderstanding about the definition of a long black (was served an Americano which is too watery for my Australian palate) but they made me a double espresso instead and it was the best tasting coffee I’ve had in weeks of being in the UK. The food was delightful. Ordered a toastie and a side salad. Super simple stuff but quality. Would recommend.

Nice coffee & delicious cake, but the ambience of sitting areas is very bland. No effort has been made to make it cosy, interesting & welcoming, or even to make it minimal chic. Next time, I might just do a takeaway.

this is great. what a lovely atmosphere! and very nice staff and amazing coffee. the bread is of the highest quality i found in this city.

Not even paper carrier bags provided. Wish I didn't buy two large loafs from them. They better be good, because customer care is v poor.

A great place to stop for coffee or to buy bread. Do both if you can. Great cakes as well.

Best traditional bakery around in East Grinstead. Also good coffee and really really tasty deserts.

What a beautiful local bakery , absolutely love this place and always tell anyone I can about it. Just excellent.

Estaba buscando un sitio agradable en la zona y este me pareció adecuado, entré y según me informó la chica detrás de la caja, podía pedir en el mostrador, pasar al área de las mesas y que me llevarían el pedido. Después de un rato esperando, más de lo normal, le pregunté a una mesera qué pasaba con mi servicio, ella me preguntó que ordené, se lo dije: " Un americano y un muffin de plátano", me trajo el café un muffin de chocolate, dije que eso no fue lo que pedí y para no esperar más, fui al área de pedidos y le tuve que señalar lo que quería. El servicio lo califico como pésimo, pero debo admitir que el lugar tiene encanto y que el muffin estaba buenísimo.

The food is good but omg the two ladies who work there are unsympathetic, no smile, no thank you, no bye. I had to wait looong minutes before they deign to look at me and serve me. Seriously if you are unhappy in your job change it!!

This place is my favourite bakery and coffee stop. The white sourdough is bang on, and the salads and sandwiches for lunch are excellent and interesting! The coffee? Well its the best made in EG. Smooth fruity coffee, milk served at the correct temperature. It’s certainly appreciated. The staff here are also top notch. Please support this excellent cafe and bakery, you won’t be disappointed!

We popped in during our first visit to East Grinsted and is this place busy! I had a latte and a savory roll/twist to have something a little different. Both were excellent. All their bread and food looks delicious.

Lovely cakes and bread , staff not particularly friendly

Great tasting coffee really nice cakes and croissant. Go here more! You’ll like it. Thanks for having us… staff are friendly and we had a chocolate croissant several lovely flat whites and toasted banana bread. Lots more funky choices – focaccia looks fantastic. So we bought some.

Great coffee, friendly staff, great alternative to boring brands. Thanks for having us. Go here more!

lovely little place for coffee and cakes...also nice to buy bread to take away. Friendly staff and clean tables

Average food. Way too expensive

I go here about 4 times a week. Recently the two staff working there are extremely unfriendly, unprofessional and don't serve food fast. I arrived, there was no one else in the que and the girl took 5 minutes before she asked what I wanted. She then gave me my coffee but forget my food.. the atmosphere was not good and it is a shame as the food and coffee is great. Please focus on customer service.

I generally enjoy going to Flint Owl and like to support local, independent cafes. Coffee is very nice and the pastries and bread are top notch. Service can be a bit sketchy, however. Update: cakes and baked goods are not the best (e.g. salted caramel brownie had way too much salt in the caramel).

Excellent staff, lovely snacks, fab cakes and gorgeous bread. Coffee is really good too!

Lovely environment and great choices for vegans too. The bread and cakes are really delicious but it is pricey so more of a treat!

sweetcorn fritters very hard and tasteless- vegetable quiche the same. with 2 soft drinks £15..Table sticky... Not very good at all

Best cakes in East Grinstead. 👍

Loving the French style baguettes, yummy👍😁

What all Bakeries should aspire to! Lovely - a huge selection of artisan loaves, along with plenty of cakes & a lovely breakfast selection. I had a warm cheese & tomato croissant to take away, as well as a decaf flat white & enjoyed every bit of it. Managed to stop myself going back for a second - it was only the queue outside that put me off, otherwise I would have done! A little pricier than other bakeries/cafes, but you really do get what you pay for & its worth it. Thank you

Everything looked dry, dull and expensive..did not buy anything..

Quality! Quality! Always great experience, recommended to everyone👌👌👌

Had 2 delicious salads from here. A chick pea and carrot with a kick. On another day I had a beetroot and sliced almond salad. Both were delicious

Always polite & friendly & their bread is fantastic.

Best coffee in East Grinstead by a country mile!!!

Outstanding bakery. Fabulicious cakes and superb bread. Highly recommended

Friendly service, good coffee and a great selection of home made treats.

This is a popular spot and rightly so. A great establishment on the High Street

Only had a coffee on my visit, service was great. The cakes and pastries looked amazing and I will be back soon for a vegan cake!

Can't wait to visit when we are not dodging covid!

The sea salt and rosemary sourdough is the best bread I’ve tasted anywhere - on Saturday they have additional treats and my favourite are the cruffins which bought joy during the lockdown - the staff are so friendly and helpful I love my visits as well as the food

Incredible bakery with the best bread and cakes in the area !

I love the ambience and the coffee is the best in town. The staff are friendly and welcoming which is much appreciated. Also, the pastries are top notch! Yes indeed.

Premises not a bakery to my knowledge, just a shop for selling items made elsewhere, bread is much nicer than say, supermarket bread but not as nice as the offerings from the likes of Cyrnel Tablehurst or Sussex Kitchen, which are available in nearby Forest Row, made from superior ingredients and the bread costs less. Can't comment on the place as a cafe as didn't eat in.

I love Flint Owl but my takeaway cappuccino today was only just over half full & they're small cups as it is!! Had an amazing coffee in Lewes branch so hit & miss as to who's making it!

The down side is that it's experience but I suppose that why everything is first class the food, coffee the service the ambiance and it's in East grinstead

Fantastic artisan breads and pastries, great coffee served by lovely friendly staff.

Huge selection of freshly baked breads from the Lewes branch I believe. Regular visitor from Crawley. The baguettes could be crispier please. I guess they would be if baked on site.

Love the friendly service and coffee is good too

What a lovely place to enjoy a cup of coffee and a piece of cake for breakfast or during the afternoon! Their bread and focaccia are the best in town!

Coffee and cake pick me up on a rainy Thursday afternoon. Coffee was incredible. One oat milk latte and one decaf latte, the best we’ve had in a very long time. Cakes were delicious too. We opted for a brownie, and a rhubarb and ginger slice. The prices are steep, but I’d say justified! We shall return, soon!!

They made my wife the most amazing Vegan chocolate and raspberry 10"birthday cake. It was so heavy and full of flavour.

Great place excellent coffee and food !!

During the lockdown Flint Owl has remained open for take outs. The staff have been amazing. The coffee is also very good as is the good selection of fresh bread and pastries. A little bit of normality in this awful time has been very much appreciated, thank you Flint Owl ❤️

I enjoy the variety of products baked here and often eat savioury dishes in the cafe and then take away chocolate treats or tarts for later. Consistently delicious and served by friendly staff.

Locally run bakery/cafe. Food is of a good quality at fair prices with friendly staff.

Even more bangin sausage rolls 👌👌

Really tasty coffee. Prices are decent and the upstairs view is great!

Wonderful staff who smile and say hello, and great coffee. They could do with a bigger premises and the entrance get quite busy at times. Best coffee in town.

Lovely bread, lovely coffee, small but worth a visit. The Rosemary and Sea Salt Sour Dough loaf is so good, give it a try

A lovely, friendly independent bakery and cafe. Well worth a visit

Beautiful bakery with delicious food, coffee and cakes to die for! There is seating upstairs and is a lovely place to have a coffee.

Brie and bacon is to die for! Staff is lovely. Cozy, warm and inviting.

Quirky little shop and cafe which sells some amazing food especially the cakes and nice coffee. A word of warning though- the stairs up to the seating area are very steep as I’m afraid are the prices.

We now buy all our bread from this bakery, it beats all the supoermarket offerings by miles. Great range of sourdough breads plus all the usual bread styles.

Great flavours great textures. Chocolate tart with Crisp Kkrunchy pastry and soft flavoursome and chocolatey filling. Quiche with Lovely crisp puffy pastry and again flavourful soft filling. Outstanding croissant doughnut crisp flaky soft dough and creamy custard good balance of sweetness. Tasty sandwiches. Excellent flavoursome coffee. In summary - almost - I mean very nearly - orgasmic.

It was okay until one member of staff started implying that we should go as they were “closing” already. This is poor customer service and she appeared to be disrespectful towards us as it was becoming incovenient for her. We do appreciate that they were closing already but this could have been done in a pleasant manner.

Super cute café. Would have liked to have seen more dairy free savory options other than just salad, but it is a small bakery, and they still had plenty of dairy free and gluten free cakes, probably more so then any other cafe I've seen. Also has a nice 2nd floor with a view over the street

Very happy with my experience in this place. Good coffee, decent hot chocolate, great croissants and nice atmosphere. Seating upstairs is comfortable and nicely designed, staff is welcoming and friendly) would definitely come again.

I am so impressed and delighted, not only with the food, but also with the service and staff in the East Grinstead branch of Flint Owl Bakery.I went in one day and made a suggestion about something – and when I went back a few days later – they remembered me. I was immediately told they had been thinking about what I said, and taking action! Friendly helpful service – and such delightful organic food and drinks. I especially love that they have small savouries - when I don’t want a whole meal – It’s really good to just have a little something ☺️

Very good bread would recommend everyone tries the bread. Very good snacks, healthy food. Nice cakes. Caffè area is a bit small especially when they are busy.

Great little bakery and cafe that do the best coffee in East Grinstead (best I've had outside of London and Brighton too). Friendly staff serving delicious cakes, pastries and light lunches that include vegan and sugar free treats as well.

Great cakes and coffee, even has a good vegan selection of cakes.

The service and food were equallly amazing.The staff were nice and easy to talk to recommending the focaccia sandwich (that was delicious).

Excellent local bakery and cafe. A great addition to the independent High Street in East Grinstead. The sea salt and rosemary sourdough is particularly good!

Lovely cakes, good drinks, and a clean and friendly venue. A good place for a snack and a sit-down while in East Grinstead.

Very clean. Healthy options on food. Friendly staff. Bread is amazing and the cakes and pastries very tempting.

Stopped in for a light lunch. We had a sandwich and cake each. The sandwiches were fantastic properly toasted with plenty of filling. However it was the cakes that stole the show amazing range so we each had something different and shared they were all out of this world, the coffee and tea was good and the staff friendly and enthusiastic.

Love the bread. Our weekend treat.

OMG I love this place! So many yummy things to choose from and delicious coffee too. Great place to relax for a bit. Worth the money

Absolutely delicious bread, mouth watering savoury lunch time bites.. the veggie burrito is gorgeous... coffee is great. Super friendly staff offering a welcoming smile EVERY TIME I go in. My 4 year old loves the bread sticks. Older daughters highly rate the huge meringues ...great hit. Can not resist a stop in when walking by.

Great place for a good coffee and cake. So much better that the soulless large coffee shops

Really loved it,delicious food and polite, caring service!!! The organic range is definitely one amongst the best in town.

Absolutely most delicious jam donut in east grinstead, simply amazed when I had one. My wife and I shared a sausage roll which to my surprise, my wife enjoyed and she never normally has pastry at needless to say I got to taste the sausage ro she had lol, really hit the spot simply devine, They have so much to offer they are well worth the walk to the top of town, if your after a daily loaf, a vegan cake or place to have a coffee and a snack, they have something for everyone, it's now at the top of my east grinstead snack spots list, I can tell you I won't buy a jam doughnut anywhere else. Trust me you won't regret a visit to this place, enjoy.

Always amazing food and friendly service.