Brighton's Original Artisan Bakery
The story of Brighton's original artisan bakery
"The most important ingredients of all? Patience."
Alastair Gourlay, Founder
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Since 1997, Real Patisserie has sold good bread to good people.
Founded by Paris-trained patissier Alastair Gourlay and his wife Annie, our bakery was born out of a love of quality ingredients and authentic baking.
While our range and reach has grown over the years, what hasn't changed is the respect that goes into every loaf. Or our commitment to charging an honest price for honest bread.
Our History
1991
Alastair begins his apprenticeship in Millau, France and the idea of Real Patisserie is born.
1997
With a small family - and a very lean budget - Alastair and wife Annie open our first store in Trafalgar Street.
Launch of the original Chewy Brown™, our signature loaf.
2001
Alastair takes the plunge, opening our first wholesale bakery in Brighton's New England House.
2005
Our largest store on Hove's Western Road opens.
2011
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Justin Gourlay opens a Real Patisserie (now Open Bakery) in Kemp Town
2017
We open our Church Road store in Hove.
2019
We win Best Food at the Sussex Food Awards.
2020
We stay open through the lockdowns, delivering breads, pastries and 'make your own at home' kits to local homes.
Having outgrown New England House, work begins on our new 1000m2 wholesale bakery at Southwick's Grange Industrial Estate.
2022
After a challenging lockdown build, we finally relocate to Southwick.
In our 25th anniversary year, we're voted one of The Times' top bakeries in the UK.
2023
Voted Brighton's Best Bakery by the Argus.
Our fourth shop in Broadwater, Worthing opens.
To be continued...
Our Values
people
We work with some of Brighton's best bakers who pour patience, skill and love into every loaf.
Many of our team have been with us for over 15 years including our Head Baker Glenn with 20 years under his belt.
"This is a unique bakery" says Glenn, "I'm proud to say we bake the best bread in Sussex. I've never wanted to work anywhere else".
Each of our stores has its own DNA with its own community and customers but the common thread running through all of them is the reassurance of exceptional bakes, great coffee and a welcoming smile.
PRODUCTS
Like the best things in life, good bread takes time. We respect traditional techniques, staying true to the art of artisan baking, with many processes taking 24 hours to really develop the flavours and extend keeping time. It's not the quickest way of doing things, but we hand-on-heart believe it's the right way. In the unintending pursuit of freshness, we bake our baguettes and pastries fresh in our stores every morning.
PLANET
We owe a duty of care to the planet which is why our new bakery in Southwick is kitted out with some of the latest advances in green energy. A cutting edge evaporative cooling system cools our 200m" pastry/patisserie production area using less electricity than it takes to boil a kettle, while heat exchangers located in our oven flues provide us with almost all of our hot water.
Visit our Sustainability page for more detail on our energy-efficient initiatives.