It’s simple, we really love bread.
Our bakery was born from a love of bread. It all started with a gifted bread making course, which sparked Mark’s passion for baking. 11 years on, our much loved Southville Sourdough sits alongside our full range of breads, pastries, cakes, breakfast and lunch sandwiches and specials, and perfectly poured Clifton Coffee.
Our ethos
We pride ourselves in being a positive bunch at Mark’s, and our ethos has been built around this positivity. Whether it’s our way of working, our style of food, or our impact on the planet, we approach it with this same mindset.
positive Work.
We want to look forward to Monday morning. We want our work to be interesting and intriguing. We want our employees to be fulfilled and our customers delighted. We want to work with our community, to talk to people, to give them a choice, to make them smile. We want to treat others the way we would want them to treat us. We want to make a fair and responsible profit.
positive baking.
The alchemy that transforms flour and water into life sustaining bread is awesome. We want to be proud of what we do. And we want to make the best food that we can, the food of the body and the soul.
Keeping waste to a minimum is important to us, as is using local suppliers and quality organic ingredients. We sell yesterday's bread at half price or as ‘Magic Bags’ of lovely goods via Too Good to Go.
positive impact.
We want to tread lightly and not destroy the future for our children. We are committed to recycling and shrinking our waste, quite literally! We use steam to help us crush our plastic containers so that they take up less room in the bin.
We bag up our used coffee grounds and tea leaves and give them away to our customers to use in their compost. Find out more about composting with coffee.
Our wholesale customers have their bread from us delivered by bicycle. The cargo bike we use was specially designed and made in Bristol by Rodford Built and won the ‘Constructor's Challenge’ award at 2015's bike festival Bespoked.
our people
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Matt (He/Him)
General Manager
He manages, generally. World’s best boss.
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Jess (She/Her)
Back Of House Manager
One department couldn’t contain her so she had to take on three. Total sell-out.
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Ruthie (She/Her)
Head Baker
Not Pisces, Loves Potato and Rosemary Sourdough. Has to be the boss because she hates being bossed around.
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Phily (She/Her)
Head Of Cake And Pastry
Our ray of sunshine. Loves McFly and rugby. You’ll find her in the pub or the pastry room.
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Max
Head Of Production
Addicted to Rightmove and cats. Industry plant.
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Bill (He/Him)
Head of Service
Turned his back on fine dining for sandwiches.
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Mike (He/Him)
Senior Baker
Former wild card, tried to fob me off with an AI bio; this isn’t that kind of establishment.
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Alfie (He/Him)
Senior Baker
Good vibes. Nepo Baby. Really likes sport.
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George (He/Him)
Senior Baker
Sings as much as he bakes. Wizard of psychadelia; tye dies our uniform to keep us colourful.
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Joe (He/Him)
Front of house manager
Secretly the sassiest of all of us. Mane of gold, pure of heart.
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Kerensa
FOH supervisor
Profile of a Grecian goddess, would rather be in Greece.
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Ella
FOH supervisor
Wears only black but has the soul of a rainbow.
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Richard
Delivery Driver
Richard wizzes round Bristol on our cargo bike, delivering loaves to Bristol’s restaurants 🚴♂️Favourite loaf: Chelsea bun (for the pedal power!)
our history
Our bakery was born from a love of bread. In 2009 Mark founded Mark’s Bread as a small artisan bakery on North Street. Today we’re an established, award-winning bakery working with the same values, creating high quality produce using only the best local ingredients.
We are proud to be a part of the local community here in Bedminster. You can also find our bread in 20 or so specially selected local restaurants and shops around Bristol, delivered daily around the city by bicycle.
2007
It all started with the simple gift of a 3-day bread making course in Devon. This sparked Mark’s passion for baking, creating and of course sampling the many loaves you can find on our bread counter today.
2009
In 2009 Mark Newman founded Mark’s Bread as a small artisan bakery on North Street, creating high quality produce using only the best local ingredients.
2013
We were super proud to win Best Local Bakery in the Bristol Good Food Awards 2013!
2021
In 2021, after 11+ years of bread-making and continuous growth at Mark’s Bread, Mark and Maria decided to hang up their aprons and hand over the business to Tobacco Factory Enterprises.
Mark and Maria said:
“It is with a sense of relief and excitement that we are moving on. Relief that the new owners couldn’t be a better fit and excitement to see where the business goes from here.”
Read more about the transition here
What People Are Saying
“The only issue with living behind Mark's is that it's always tempting to go back hours later for another thing! I had their delicious Pain au Chocolat this morning, and then went back for my lunch! Best sandwich in the area, by a country mile!”
— google reviews
“There are some great independent bakers in Bristol but I think Mark’s is my favourite. Bread is full of texture and flavour, well worth the queue.”
— google reviews
“Great place to stop for breakfast, lunch or coffee & a pastry. All their products are worth trying. Excellent vegetarian options, second to none, super coffee & friendly staff too.”