Crosstown Brick Lane Donut Shop: Sourdough Rings Until 10pm

Crosstown, at 157 Brick Lane, London E1 6SB, is the donut shop that sits between the two beigel shops on the busiest stretch of the street, and it keeps longer hours than almost any doughnut counter in East London: 8am to 10pm, seven days a week, or until the trays are empty.

Crosstown started in 2014 as a market stall on Leather Lane in Clerkenwell, selling what it calls signature sourdough doughnuts. The dough is the point: a slow sourdough base gives the rings a slightly tangy, chewier crumb than the airy yeast doughnuts sold in supermarkets. In 2017 the bakers added a vegan hybrid sourdough, and that recipe now carries a large share of the menu, marked (ve) on every label. The business was bought by Karali Group in 2024 and the shops kept trading under the same name.

The Brick Lane shop is one of the brand's busiest. Its own listing points out that it is moments from Boxpark Shoreditch, and it doubles as one of Crosstown's Scoop Bars, so the freezer cabinet holds small-batch gelato alongside the doughnut trays. The room has indoor seating, Wi-Fi, a water refill point and a customer toilet, which is rare on this part of Brick Lane, where most food is eaten standing on the pavement.

Start with the Chocolate Truffle at £4.95, a sourdough ring filled with milk chocolate truffle, smothered in dark chocolate ganache and dusted with cocoa. It is the richest thing in the case and the one most people photograph. If you want something lighter, the Sri Lankan Cinnamon Sugar (ve) is the cheapest ring at £3.95, rolled rather than glazed, and it travels well in a paper bag if you are walking on to the market.

For filled doughnuts, the Homemade Raspberry Jam (ve) at £4.95 is the house take on the British jam doughnut, and the Peanut Butter and Blackcurrant Compote (ve) at £4.95 is a vegan peanut-butter-and-jelly ring with a roasted peanut glaze and whole peanuts on top. The Biscotti (ve) at £4.95 is the vegan ring to try if you want something crunchy on top. Skip the chocolate cookie at £3.45 unless the trays are bare, because you came here for the dough.

Between 15 October and 3 November 2026 the counter carries three Halloween doughnuts at £5.95 each. The Spooky Spider is a pumpkin-spiced cake doughnut with a dulce de leche centre and a snapping chocolate spider on top. The vegan Mummified Raspberry Jam is wrapped in icing bandages, and the vegan Matcha Monster is the green one with eyes. They can be bought singly or pre-ordered in selection boxes for in-store collection, which is the safer plan on a weekend.

The phrase on the official hours, or until sold out, is not decoration. Brick Lane on a Sunday fills with market crowds heading to the Old Truman Brewery and Sunday Upmarket, and the counter thins out through the afternoon. If a particular flavour matters to you, come before midday, or pre-order a six-box online and collect it. A Classic Doughnut Selection of six costs £24.95, which works out a little cheaper than six premium rings bought one by one.

Weekday evenings are the quiet window. Most of Brick Lane's food stalls are winding down by then, but Crosstown keeps serving until 10pm, so it is one of the few places on the street where you can sit down with coffee and a doughnut after work. A flat white is £3.70 and an Americano £3.40. If the queue is out of the door, the beigel shops either side are the quick savoury alternative, though neither sells sourdough rings.

The shop takes card payment, so you do not need cash, unlike some older counters on the same street. Vegan doughnuts are labelled on the tray and on the website, which makes it easy for a mixed group to share a box without asking about every flavour. Crosstown publishes allergen information for each product online, and anyone with a nut allergy should read it before ordering, since peanuts appear on several rings, including the PB and blackcurrant.

Boxes of six are the easiest way to carry doughnuts home on the Overground, and they keep filled rings like the raspberry jam from being squashed in a bag. The shop also runs same-day delivery across London, which is handy if you want the Halloween box sent to an office rather than carried across the city.

Crosstown makes a good first or last stop on a loop of the neighbourhood. Walk north and you reach Boxpark Shoreditch and the Overground at Shoreditch High Street in a few minutes. Head south along Brick Lane and you pass the Old Truman Brewery, where the Sunday Upmarket and vintage halls fill the old brewery yards. Beigel Bake, a few doors along, is the place for a salt beef beigel if you want something savoury before the doughnut.

From there, continue to Spitalfields Market and Christ Church Spitalfields, the white Hawksmoor church on Commercial Street, then finish at Liverpool Street station. The full loop is about a mile and takes under an hour with stops. Aldgate East on the District and Hammersmith & City lines is the other easy station, roughly ten minutes on foot from the shop.

Expect a mix that follows the street itself: City workers collecting boxes for the office, market shoppers who walked over from Spitalfields and want somewhere to sit, and an evening crowd on its way to the bars of Shoreditch, since few cafes nearby stay open as late. Seating is limited, so if you plan to linger with a laptop on the Wi-Fi, order a coffee as well as a doughnut and give up the table when the room fills.

Address: Crosstown, 157 Brick Lane, London E1 6SB. Hours: Monday to Sunday 8am to 10pm, or until sold out. Prices: rings £3.95 to £4.95, Halloween doughnuts £5.95, six-box selection £24.95, flat white £3.70. Nearest stations: Shoreditch High Street Overground, Aldgate East and Liverpool Street. Seating, Wi-Fi, a water refill point and a toilet are available, and payment is by card.

Our honest take: the vegan sourdough range is the reason to come here rather than to a chain, and the late closing time makes it the most useful doughnut stop in East London for evening plans. Skip the gelato in cold months unless you are already sitting down, and do not rely on a specific flavour after mid-afternoon at weekends. Ask Karpo for nearby bakeries if the trays are already empty when you arrive.