‘Not quite Greggs’: TikTok creators put London’s ‘gentrified’ bakeries to the test

Jolene, an independent bakery and restaurant that has expanded to four sites across the capital. Photograph: Grant Rooney/Alamy

The video that started it all was innocuous enough: a woman in her 20s posted on TikTok about how she spends a perfect weekend in north London. On her list were the bakeries Jolene and Gail’s, and the De Beauvoir Deli.

The reaction, however, was anything but. Many locals commented that they had never heard of the businesses she mentioned. One north Londoner, Moses Combe, 21, was equally incredulous. “If this is where all the north London girlies come in the morning, I’d be a bit surprised,” he said in a viral video.