Crosstown Fitzrovia Donut Shop: Vegan Rings by Oxford Street

Crosstown Fitzrovia, at 13 Newman Street, London W1T 1PB, is the donut shop to know if you work or shop around the east end of Oxford Street. It sits at Rathbone Square, a couple of minutes from Tottenham Court Road station, and opens 8am to 7pm every day, or until the counter sells out. Most sourdough rings are £4.95, many of them vegan, and there are tables, Wi-Fi and a water refill point inside.

Crosstown itself describes this branch as the place to escape the office for a doughnut and coffee, and its position explains why. Rathbone Square is a modern block of offices and flats on the site of the old Royal Mail sorting office, and the streets around it are full of agencies, studios and media firms. Weekday trade runs on morning coffee runs and boxes carried back to desks, so this is a working cafe first and a tourist stop second.

The brand began in 2014 on a Leather Lane market stall, built its name on sourdough doughnuts, and from 2017 developed a vegan sourdough that now carries most of the range. Karali Group has owned the business since 2024. Fitzrovia stocks the full line-up and the small-batch ice cream, so you are not getting a cut-down menu just because the room is compact.

The Tongan Vanilla Bean Glaze (ve), at £4.95, is the plainest ring and the best test of the dough: vegan sourdough coated in a thick glaze flecked with vanilla. If it tastes good to you, the rest of the menu will too. The Cinnamon Scroll (ve), also £4.95, is rolled with Sri Lankan cinnamon, then glazed with the same Tongan vanilla and finished with a vanilla bean crumble. It is the best choice with a black coffee.

The Matcha & Strawberry (ve) is a limited edition that returned as a full-sized vegan ring: rhubarb and strawberry compote inside, a matcha and green tea glaze, and a strawberry crumble on top, at £4.95. For non-vegans, the Chocolate Truffle remains the heaviest option. During Halloween the counter adds the Spooky Spider, a pumpkin cake doughnut with a dulce de leche centre and a chocolate spider, at £5.95.

Crosstown runs a full matcha list alongside its coffee, which suits an afternoon desk break better than a third espresso. The Iced PBJ Matcha Latte, at £4.70, borrows the peanut butter and blackcurrant idea from one of the doughnuts. Plain options include a matcha latte, chai latte, flat white and long black. Vanilla gelato is £3.45 a scoop. Our verdict: the gelato is pleasant but skippable in autumn, because the doughnuts are the reason to queue.

If you are buying for a team, the Mixed Mini Doughnut Fifteen Pack costs £39.95 and is easier to share across a meeting table than full-size rings. Gift boxes come with messages such as Happy Birthday, Thank You and Good Luck, in sixes and twelves, and can be ordered online for collection here. Ordering ahead is the reliable route, as walk-in stock follows the or until sold out rule printed under the opening times.

The quietest time is mid-morning after the 8am to 9:30am commuter rush, when you can choose from full trays and find a table. Lunchtime fills with office staff, and by late afternoon the counter may be down to a few flavours. Remember that it shuts at 7pm, three hours earlier than the Brick Lane branch, so it does not work for an evening plan. If the trays are empty, the Brick Lane shop is the late option.

Two money-savers are worth knowing. Crosstown runs an app with a loyalty scheme, and its site lists a Student Beans discount for students who sign up through that service. Neither is advertised on the counter, so ask staff or check the app before you pay rather than after.

Crosstown runs its own bakery and states that it uses peanuts, nuts and other allergens in some products. It hand-makes an unsealed product and cannot guarantee that any doughnut has zero contact with those allergens, so guests with severe allergies should read the full allergen page before ordering. Vegan items are clearly marked (ve). Payment is by card, and the store lists card payment, Wi-Fi, indoor seating and water refill, but no customer toilet, unlike some other branches.

Fitzrovia rewards a short walk. Head north up Newman Street and Charlotte Street, the area's restaurant spine, and you reach Fitzroy Square, a calm Georgian square with stone terraces designed by Robert Adam. The BT Tower rises above the neighbourhood and makes an easy landmark for orientation. Going south, Oxford Street is a minute away, and Soho starts just across it, so the shop works as a pause between errands rather than a destination of its own.

If the tables are full, walk two minutes north to Fitzroy Square, where the benches around the central garden railings make a decent place to eat from a box. Goodge Street station on the Northern line is about five minutes north of the shop, and Tottenham Court Road, served by the Central, Northern and Elizabeth lines, is closer still to the south-east, so getting here from almost anywhere in central London is quick.

Going by the shop's own pitch and its location, weekdays belong to the surrounding offices: people on laptops over a flat white, colleagues collecting a box for a meeting, couriers picking up online orders. Weekends bring Oxford Street shoppers resting their feet. The polite rule is to keep laptop sessions short at lunchtime, when every seat is wanted, and to clear your own table before you leave.

Address: Crosstown Fitzrovia, 13 Newman Street, London W1T 1PB. Hours: Monday to Sunday 8am to 7pm, or until sold out. Prices: Tongan Vanilla Bean Glaze, Cinnamon Scroll and Matcha & Strawberry £4.95 each, Halloween Spooky Spider £5.95, Iced PBJ Matcha Latte £4.70, vanilla gelato £3.45, mini fifteen-pack £39.95. Nearest stations: Tottenham Court Road and Goodge Street. Card payment, Wi-Fi and seating.