Perhaps Cheltenham’s worst kept secret, on a nondescript industrial estate in the centre of town, after spotting the queue of locals in the adjoining builders yard, you’ll stumble across the superb French boulangerie shipping container.
As you’d expect from an authentic French boulangerie, aside from delicious breads there’s also always a mouth-watering array of pastries and sweet treats. On proud display you’ll find everything from their famous almond Pain au Chocolat (double trouble) to their irresistible moulin, a smaller, sweeter croissant and chocolate babka. During our last visit we tried the former two alongside their very moist cinnamon roll (pictured).
To accompany your pastries is delicious coffee roasted by Ritual Coffee Roasters, also based within Cheltenham. There’s no seating on-site but it’s certainly worth taking away and tucking in, sadly the industrial estate isn’t a very scenic backdrop! We’d recommend heading to the nearby Sandford Park, next to the Sandford Lido.
Finally, for those living nearby be sure to fill up those pockets with a sourdough loaf, focaccia or baguette for later. They like to keep things simple, using only the best French flour, water and fine sea salt from Guérande, the ‘L’Extra’ sourdough loaf is the dough of legend in Cheltenham and a firm favourite of ours.
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