Rupert Dobbin / 02 August 2025 / Categories: Food & Drink, Coffee Shops

Gail’s Bakery Southwark Bridge Road Up from where El Vergel Used To Be

Went to look at the converted fire station apartments Saturday Morning

A friend of mine told me about the converted Fire station apartments on Southwark Bridge Road; said they were pretty special and might be a great investment for me so we went to have look.

And came across this awesome new Gail’s Bakery and cafe next door where we stopped to have breakfast, well coffee and a toasted sandwich for me, Kombucha and a croissant for Freya.

I don’t usually like a chain, we’ve got a Gail’s in St John’s Wood and one in Hampstead so I am familiar but we don’t get our bread from there usually.

I have to say the coffee they served was particularly good, better than Laurent’s Deli where I normally get my Americano and or expresso weekend fix. I don’t know what it was or if it was just later than usual, we’d spent an hour viewing a couple of the apartments still left in the Firestation a doors up.

This Gail’s certainly added appeal to the apartment.

It’s a big one, lots of seating inside which was filling up with all different types of people. Mostly young families and twenty to thirty something couples like us grabbing coffee or a bite after a visit to the park across the street or a morning workout or yoga or Pilates class.

Tables outside too for watching life go by. It wasn’t so busy so we sat outside. The service was really good: friendly and we shopped to go too, buying a couple of loaves of the same bread my sandwich was made from, crusty, wholesome and fresh, delicious when toasted into a croque monsieur, cheese and ham kind of thing.

It wasn’t cheap. With the bread I ended up spending about £40. The loaves about £6 each but we spent quite a bit of time talking about the apartments and going over the details and even though it was busy when we left we didn’t feel any pressure to vacate from the staff.

If you find yourself south of the river it’s a big place on the main Southwark Bridge Road so you cannot miss it. There used to be a fantastic family run Mexican restaurant I loved El Vergel where FYI Stella after 28 years is now offering their joix de vivre vibes and delicious and I mean delicious food for your event, wedding or party. I will do a separate snoop but it was El Vergel that made me visit and fall in love with this area of London.

What Stella, El Vergel says on the website www.elvergel.co.uk

"We are still family run, after 28 years of forming our catering company with the help of mum, and have served hundreds of memorable events. We strive to maintain our tradition and commitment to serving dishes made only from authentic ingredients.

When we first opened our restaurant, our idea was to build a space where we could share with our customers, good food in a relaxed atmosphere, serving breakfast and lunches to our mixed crowd of barristers, architects, artists… mothers and babies!"

Our focus is now on catering and creating beautiful food for events. The restaurant is now Chimi’s and we’re firm friends with our office next door. So, if you’re in SE1, don’t forget to pop in and see them - the Argentinian menu is just delicious.

Chimi’s the new Argentine restaurant is just down the road from Gail’s on the same side and whilst the food is really good. I do still miss popping in to see Stella, her wonderful family, her daughter and grand daughter and eating some fabulous food.

Gail’s bakery and cafe on Southwark Bridge Road was really good vibes for coffee and we both did like the bread. Although probably not enough to make me shop Gail’s in St John’s Wood where to be honest the service is not nearly so good.

The only down side for me is you don’t get the family feel and genuine connection you get when someone like Stella from El Vergel cooks for you. So if you like Mexican food and are having a party make sure you get Stella and friends to create your ultimate fiesta.

If you are reading this Stella, Gail’s Bakery is a good addition to the neighbourhood and if El Vergel was still open (closed October 2021) I’d definitely be buying the apartment.