St. JOHN Bakery Borough Corner in Southwark

What a weird experience. I apologise to the staff because I feel like I'd pre-emptively, deeply, insulted them before walking into the place. Rare that a place has ever made me feel like I was committing a crime simply by walking in and buying a couple of coffees. Two younger servers – and they both seemed happy to chat away to one another, but very inconvenienced by me apparently. I get that you may have a disdain for your customers and hate your job – but jeez. Cheer up guys. Such a weird experience. Also, how do you not have oat milk in 2024? Coffee was cheap and pretty decent though. But if you see some young guy in glasses and his pal there, come back another day or just avoid.

Had the Raspberry Jam Doughnut, jam itself was nice and tart, the doughnut itself was pretty stale and the service wasn't great, someone described it as being "uninspired" and I totally agree.

Average sandwiches (way too much bread) and uninspiring service. Decent coffee.

raspberry doughnut was splendid

We had some nice croissants and other pastries!

Small, but great to know that there is one near Borough, I've never actually tried this one, but I am very faithful to the Spitalfields branch. Their donuts are the best.

Outrageously good sandwiches. Proper doorstep with freshly baked bread. The doughnut was pretty special also, bursting at the seams with custard. I never write reviews, but felt compelled.

Very tasty and fresh cinnamon bun priced fairly. Friendly service.

Absolutely horrendous coffee from automat.. what a lazy rip off to serve it these days while providing decent breads. Strange decision indeed. Good pastries though and great eccles cake.

How have I not tried this bakery before?! Please do not make the same mistake as I did - do not avoid the perfection you were missing in your life. Their bakes are divine! Tried minced pie and .. well, now that I eat Mitchelin-Star-Worthy one no other ones will taste as good. Cannot wait to try more of their creations. Also, have you noticed (don't know if it's in every branch) they have their beer! I bought Eccles Stout to indulge on. Fabulous!

Went there and the door had a sign, back in 5 minute, waited for more than 10 minutes and nobody showed up

Got a Jam Doughnut which was packed with tasty jam, however it was pretty stale. I got there in the afternoon so would probably be better in the morning. Ordered a flat white too which was from a machine and pretty meh. It was ok but I expected more

Compare to the one Convent Garden, this branch does not provide fresh pastries and donuts.

Bought a loaf of bread and a cinnamon bun this morning. The bun was nice and buttery. The whole wheat sourdough bread was quite dry and didn't taste very fresh, like it had been baked the evening before. Didn't try the doughnuts which is probably are what they are known for.

Had a cheese and chutney sandwich it was amazingly good. The staff was quick and generally really nice. Will definitely be coming back

Lovely doughnut here, and the cinnamon bun was fresh too. Wouldn’t recommend planning to sit though, quite cramped

Bought the well known doughnuts. It was not as good as it shall be. I don't know if it was impacted by the weather, but it was dry. It didn't taste good. Feel disappointed 😔

Amazing doughnuts. So much better than Bread Ahead in Borough Market and you don't have to deal with the massive queues either.

First time trying their donuts and they are totally worth it. Super spongy and fluffy! There is no doubt they are made fresh and that filling is to die for! Not that typical trendy super sweet donut, but closer to the traditional donut. The staff was also very welcoming and friendly.

Overpriced for very ordinary lackluster flavous and below average filling for the doughnuts Staff were good!

Tasty Pain Au Chocolat, coffee was horrendous.

One of my favourite bakeries in London. Almond croissant and donuts are top.

We were so pleased when we moved back to the neighbourhood and saw that St John was right down the street. The staff are so lovely and always up for a chat. They are our go-to bakery. Try the chocolate ganache doughnut!

I have been there a few times to try their doughnuts and some ecclecakes. The doughnuts are really good especially the vanilla and chocolate ones. The jam doughnuts is a bit to sweet for me. Apart from that the breads are very good, and the ecclescake is also very flaky and crisp.

I treated myself to a plain croissant the otherday and priced at £2.80 I expected it to be of the finest quality. How wrong was I , there was absolutely no crispiness to it at all. It felt soft as if it had been baked the day before. To put it in perspective I preferred the Sainsbury's croissant 50 yards away.

Nice looking products, but they sold me what felt like yesterday's pastry for the full price. The lady in the shop was apologetic and gave me a refund.

Baked goods are a bit hit and miss but you can always count on the staff to be moody.

The croissants are not good at all, neither fresh nor flaky. You can get better croissants at the Sainsbury's down the road

I love the doughnuts here and come by fairly regularly, but had a weird experience recently which stopped me coming. I visited to pick up a vanilla doughnut about half an hour before closing. There were some chocolate doughnuts and some unfilled ones left. Usually in this case they have extra filling and will fill with your choice. I asked if it was possible to fill one of the spares with vanilla and the man behind the counter refused. He said he technically could fill another but would only sell me a chocolate one as he "didn't want to waste" the others. It was so strange and I was very confused by what he meant about wasting one, when I was planning to buy it. I asked him him clarify because I didn't understand, and he just said that he would only sell the chocolate ones and the others would be a waste. I can't eat chocolate. I had to leave feeling very embarrassed and confused. Why was it wasteful to sell me a different type that was available?

Croissants should be flaky, buttery and should almost break apart when you hold them, this was everything but. I tried the pain au chocolat and almond croissant, they were completely stale and dry. The pastries are clearly not fresh, which is disappointing knowing how well renowned St. JOHN is.

I've only had the donut...it's pretty average, at a hugely inflated price. Bread looks good though.

Very good doughnuts, decent sandwiches, eccles were NOT to my liking. Must be a British taste…

St. JOHN Bakery was on my bucket list but we didn't plan to try since all of their three locations were far from our destinations. We visited the one at Borough Market by accidentally getting off at the wrong underground station to Borough Makert. The decor is humble, simple & narrow-spaced and it's easy to miss if you don't pay attention. The options were limited and there were only three flavors of their signature cream puff. We got one Vanilla Cream Puff to share and it was decent but not really special or delicate as its reputation. It's not worth a detour, but you could give it a try if you are in the neighborhood.

The worst croissant, soggy and unpleasant to eat. 3.20£ 😀 Good luck

Things just don’t seem to have been baked recently. Croissants are slightly cardboard and I’ve given up on them. Bread doesn’t feel especially fresh either. It’s a shame because it’s convenient to me, but Gail’s really is fresh baked and the difference is notable. Also - a bakery which open its doors at 8am? That’s past breakfast time for lots of people. Me anyway.

Worst almond croissant I’ve ever had…felt stale and not enjoyable…first time I only ate half of one and binned the rest. French stick was also not particularly fresh. Don’t think I will ever go again

Love here custard doughnuts 🍩 recommend

Custard doughnuts were amazing!

Delicious Doughnuts & the staff are friendly...

Wish I listened to the reviews. Got an almond croissant and a cinnamon bun. So so stale. I went at 9am so you'd think it would be fresh Better off hitting up a Tesco

The only donuts worth spending more than two quid on

Both the bread and the croissant tasted old and i bought them in the morning! - I would advise management to make some changes.

We love the bread selection and croissants at this place. It's such a cute little bread shop in a great location. Further, Ellis (Alice?) here is amazing:)

Yummy bread! Selection of products is small

Have been regularly visiting here to buy croissant, sometimes lucky enough to find freshly backed crispy croissant, which were fantastic. Lately, the bread were rather soggy, even in the morning! Hope this could be improved. Otherwise a decent Konditorei and great location.

Good sourdough loaves, great doughnuts, and tasty wine!

As previous reviews, I came in the morning and both the bread and pastry were cooked at least a day before. Very poor quality for the price.

Shocking! After a gruelling shift I thought i'd treat myself to a posh sandwich at this bakery. The worst sandwich I've ever had (yes, even beats the finger sandwiches left all day in a meeting room): not only it took over 15min for them to make it, making me wait in freezing temperatures, but there was no choice of bread, it was stale white bread so thick you could hardly chew through it. I ate one quarter, gave one quarter to the pigeons, and to my great sadness, had not choice but to bin the unedible second half. My NHS colleague ordered exactly the same and when I bumped into her later, she confirmed she had also binned hers in anger. Never again.

I was very pleased to see this bakery opening in the heart of Borough back in Oct/Nov 2020, however I have been very disappointed since then. Despite showing up early between 8/9am, pastries and breads are cooked the day before.... way to expensive for the quality of their product. Would not recommend!

Fourth time lucky... Each time i have visited this bakery they are out of stock of bread and doughnuts, this is the main products they sell but arrive after 2pm and you will be hard pressed to find a decent selection of items to buy! The shop closes at 6pm, sort it our please St John so customers coming after work or on an afternoon walk around London bridge can actually purchase something from your hole in the wall bakery..

Was really pleased to see a new bakery pop up in range of a short morning walk. We’ve had doughnuts from St John’s before which have been really tasty. However, on my most recent visit, having gone soon after opening to get a pastry for breakfast, I was charged £3 a piece for a pastry that had clearly been cooked at least a day before. Both croissants were hard and stale and not the freshly baked goods I would expect from a bakery first thing in the morning. In future I will be buying my breakfast from the deli next door.

Great place- the best donouts in London and dont get me started on those brownies :) 5 stars!

Gorgeous breads in various sizes, at good prices too. Really delicious soda bread which I haven't found elsewhere. Open nice and early even during lockdown. 👏

Good bakery with reasonable price