Artisan Bakery Near Me by Crystal Palace: Chatsworth Bakehouse Sandwich Guide

Chatsworth Bakehouse is open only four days a week: its walk-in bakery at 116 Anerley Road, London SE19 2AN, opens at 12:30pm from Wednesday to Friday and at 11am on Saturday, closing at 4pm. If your search for an artisan bakery near me lands in south London, this is the one people cross the city for, mainly for focaccia sandwiches that sell out on pre-order almost as soon as they go live.

The bakery belongs to Sian Evans and Tom Mathews, and it started in their home during the first lockdown in March 2020. Tom had to shut his pop-up restaurant and did not want produce to go to waste, so the couple began cooking for neighbours and local food banks, then baking. Flour sacks soon took over the flat.

By May 2021 the operation had outgrown the space and they went looking for premises. The first shop, at 120A Anerley Road, opened in October 2021, a tiny unit that The Infatuation describes as the size and colour of a postage stamp, with one wooden bench outside as the only seating. Queues became so long that in summer 2024 the pair opened a second, larger walk-in shop three doors along at number 116.

In 2026 the Good Food Guide added Chatsworth to its list of Britain's 50 best bakeries as a new entry, and Time Out noted that people come from all over London to try it.

The name is borrowed from the road the couple lived on. Tom, a chef first and baker second by his own description, had put focaccia sandwiches on his pop-up menus before, but lockdown turned bread into a full-time job: he was up at 4am to get loaves through a domestic oven in time for deliveries. They offered bread on a neighbourhood WhatsApp group in exchange for donations, an honesty bakery that went from 4 loaves to 40.

Bake days grew from one a week to three, a weekly sarnie special became Tom's new job, and the living room filled with a delivery rota of three drivers. Sian spotted the empty unit at 120A while stuck in traffic on a delivery run. They signed the lease in June 2021, raised £12k on Kickstarter within two days that September to replace rotten floor joists and refit the space, and opened the candy-red shop on the first weekend of October 2021.

The focaccia sandwiches are the main event, and they are sold mainly by pre-order through the bakery's online ordering page. Sandwich days are usually Wednesday to Friday, the menu changes weekly, and you choose a day and collect from 120A between 12:30pm and 3:30pm. Hot Dinners reported that pre-order slots sell out almost immediately once released.

Each sandwich is built on a thick, dimpled wedge of focaccia baked that morning, with fillings such as tuna with basil and garlic aioli and balsamic shallots. The mayos, jams, relishes and pickles are all made in house. You can add the signature Double Chocolate Cereal Cookie or a Porridge Tin Loaf to the same pre-order, which saves a second queue.

An honest judgement: if you miss the pre-order window, do not plan a long trip just for a sandwich, because walk-in sandwich stock is not guaranteed. Come instead on a Saturday for the bakery counter and the pizza, which are first come, first served and do not need booking.

Number 116 opened to ease the queues and carries the bigger bakery menu. Bakes announced for its opening included Guinness cake, raspberry and nectarine bread pudding, brown butter honey pie, basque cheesecake and the cereal cookie, and the counter changes with what the bakers are excited about that week. The Infatuation also rates the rich vegan brownie and the oversized loaf.

Everything here is first come, first served. The doors open at 12:30pm Wednesday to Friday, so this is a lunchtime bakery rather than a breakfast one, and early arrivals tend to get the full range. On Saturdays the shop opens at 11am, an hour and a half earlier than on weekdays.

Saturday is the day to come without a pre-order. 116 opens at 11am, and from 1pm the original shop at 120A serves fresh-out-of-the-oven slices of grandma-style pizza, cut into squares and sold by the slice. Arrive before 1pm, browse the counter at 116, then join the pizza line at 120A as the first trays come out.

Mondays and Tuesdays are closed at both shops, and there is no morning trade on weekdays, which catches out people who turn up at 9am expecting coffee and croissants. Expect queues on Saturday. Splitting the bakery counter and the pizza between two shops was designed to keep those lines shorter than they were when everything ran through 120A.

Chatsworth sits between Penge and Crystal Palace, and the obvious next stop is Crystal Palace Park, a short walk west. The park is home to the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, the Victorian sculptures from the 1850s around the lakes, along with the remains of the terraces of the Crystal Palace itself, which burned down in 1936.

Crystal Palace Triangle, the cluster of streets around Westow Hill and Church Road, has independent cafés, record shops and antiques dealers for an afternoon wander. Anerley and Crystal Palace stations on the London Overground are both within roughly a ten-minute walk of the bakery, and buses run the length of Anerley Road.

Walk-in bakery: 116 Anerley Road, London SE19 2AN, open Wednesday to Friday 12:30pm to 4pm and Saturday 11am to 4pm, closed Monday and Tuesday. Pre-order collection and Saturday pizza: 120A Anerley Road, SE19 2AN, collections Wednesday to Friday 12:30pm to 3:30pm, pizza slices from 1pm on Saturday.

Sandwiches are pre-ordered online and change weekly. Email hello@chatsworthbakehouse.com with questions. Seating is minimal, a single bench at the original shop, so plan to eat in the park, and bring a bag for loaves if you are stocking up.