Joe’s Bakery

Best bakery on Gloucester Road. I literally want one of each when I go in there. The loaves and rolls, cakes and savouries make me drool.
It’s very traditional and not much to look at but it’s 100% reliable for quality and deliciousness — and that’s the most important thing. The ladies are all nice, the service is quick and the prices are fair! I seriously want to try all the cakes! It’s a big decision because there’s loads of choice.
I’d go out of my way to get my bread and cakes from here… and I’m lazy!!!

Joe’s is an old school bakery that sells great breads, pastries and donuts.
Nowadays you’ll find bakeries that look more like restaurants or like a swiss log cabin, but not Joe’s! Joe’s Bakery is as 90’s as you could ever wish for; bread stacked in the window, donuts on glass fronted shelves and a fly zapper stuck to the wall. But, as old school as it is, everything they sell is fantastic!
I popped in yesterday for the first time in months and grabbed a cheeky donut and was greeted with a welcoming «alright love» by one of the staff.
There’s no sitting down and having a coffee and natter here, but you’ll have a good chin wag while you order and walk away with some of the best baked good in Bristol.
I’m a BIG fan!

I’ve been coming to this bakers since i was a kid and every time it’s amazing.
Delicious fresh bread, great looking cakes and a hot lunch counter.
They run out of a load of items mid afternoon and you cant blame them– popular!
Joes will always be a go to place for me, stuff the supermarkets– you can’t fake a good little bakery. Great prices, great tasting food… and it’s been around longer than me.
Say’s a lot :)

Independence is a funny thing. While I’m quite happy to go to a supermarket to buy fruit and veg (I know, I know, but I’m lazy and it’s convenient) but there is no chance you would ever catch me in the likes of Greggs or Starbucks. Why go to a huge chain when bread and coffee can be made with love at your local baker or café?!
If you’re like me and you want to support local businesses and know just what goes into the dough then pay a trip to Joe’s Bakery on Gloucester Road. Located next to the Golden Lion, this place has been around for yonks which has resulted in fantastic, finely tuned recipes and friendly, smiling staff.
Although I’m a sucker for the sweet stuff, Joe’s does do a great line in sandwiches and lunchtime fillers that will hit the spot. The jury is still out on whether or not Joe’s is better than the Breadstore but this should certainly be your bakery of choice if you live at the top end of Gloucester Road.

Joe’s Bakery has been around for nearly thirty years so they must be doing something right! And of course, they are… they’re getting it all right. They supply a really varied range of products that has been altered and fine-​tuned so that they move with the times, and standards have been consistently maintained. The latter is probably due to the fact that it’s not just the food that they care about. The owners, Jane and Martin Hunt, really look after their staff as well. Trev has worked here for fourteen years, Jenny has worked here six; her granddad used to work here and got her a job when she left school, and she’s been here ever since. Wendy has clocked up a hefty twenty years for the Hunts, proving that there is still a chance to find a job for life if you look very, very hard.
Although the youngest, it is usually Jenny that picks up the mantle of promoting the new products. (I hope that Jane and Martin recognise her blossoming marketing talents and verve, and offer her some career progression so that she won’t be serving behind the counter all her life). And there’s definitely scope. Joe’s does not only serve its regular retail customers on Gloucester Road, it also wholesales its wares to the University, Bristol Rovers, and quite a few of the hotels in the region. They even have a concession or two at Glastonbury Festival.
There’s already been much mention of the quality of food here on Unilocal,and so I won’t go repeating myself. I will however mention the bread… I’m a sourdough fiend and this is where I get my fix. Made to the recipe of Richard Bertinet, the celebrity chef and author of several cookbooks, (two of which are devoted to bread), this exceptionally tasty bread is the best to be found in Bristol.
What makes it so good? Time! The mother dough has been going for about 8 years!
It takes 18 hours for a new batch of dough to be ready to be baked off, allowing all of the flavours to mature, from the caramelised thick crust through to the salty sweet flavours with characteristic sour notes. It’s available in three sizes with the largest weighing in at 1.2kg. The bigger the loaf, the thicker the crust, which is great because it acts as a preserving barrier that keeps the bread fresh for longer, (up to a week). Marvellous!

If you usually turn to the Breadstore for your bakery needs, then I suggest that you take a trip further up the road to Joe’s Bakery and let your adventurous side out. They have a great choice of baguettes, rolls, baps and cakes. For extreme yuminess, I’d go for their pastry selection — especially their pecan danishes. With so many scrumptious baked goods, your palate will be dancing! Joe’s Bakery is very cheap — even for bakery standards, and is definitely worth a visit.

On Gloucester Rd there is a plethora of good bakeries and on Unilocal,an equally broad selection of reviews. There is little I can do or say to top off the reviews, particularly for Joe’s.
I could argue that Joe’s, as one of the longest standing bakeries in the area, caters for all walks of life. The huge variety of loaves, the sandwiches made to order daily or the enormous selection of Jamaican spiced curried patties — my personal favourite. Whilst listing favourites I could be tempted to scribble about the divine, original melt-​in-​your-​mouth caramel fudge cake. I may be tempted to talk about the apples on sale at the counter; quite literally the biggest and reddest I have ever seen (how do you like them apples?!) Finally I could write about the entrance to this particular bakery being a long standing poster spot for removal vans, jobs and student houses.
This bakery is then just another bakery on Gloucester Rd. Granted. But it does try very hard and in doing so, do very well.

If you’re one for quality cakes, pastries and breads, Joe’s Bakery will satisfy your needs. A welcome alternative to the likes of Greggs, this little gem hosts a selection of freshly baked produce at reasonable prices. If you work locally and it’s your Friday afternoon cake round, this is the place to go to fill your goody box. Trust me, the cakes are nothing short of divine. I tend to go for the Lemon Yum Yum, a lemon flavoured doughnut-​like cake topped with icing and bursting with unique flavour. Or if you’re more of a Danish Pastry lover, try the delicious Pecan and Caramel Danish.
The Bakery also sells a selection of sandwiches and pasties which can be found in the adjoining Savouries and Sandwiches section of the shop. These are plentiful and varied, and make perfect lunchtime treats for us lazy mortals unwilling to rise those precious few minutes earlier to make our own lunch. Ach it’s a hard life…

Up the top of the gloc, Joe’s Bakery is a really good local bakery for the Bishopston masses — in my opinion beating their rivals down the road at the Breadstore. Although you’ll still have to queue at lunchtimes and on a Saturday morning, they’re not as irritatingly long as the ones you’ll find down the road, and this isn’t down to quality, but more due to the fact Joe’s is slightly off the beaten track at this end of the Gloucester Road.
The bread is mighty good, and the rest of the range is plentiful — the cakes are really worth exploring, and the lunchtime baked goods are hidden gems (I’m partial to a pizza slice). If you do make it down here at a lunchtime you’re pretty likely to bump into some of the friendly prison wardens from the lock-​up round the corner, who make a trip to the bakery a little more entertaining. Also, the notice board is well worth a peruse to keep in the know about local events and happenings.