About us
Quince was founded by pastry chef and baker Anna Higham to celebrate British produce and baking traditions. That approach now runs through both Quince Bakery and Clementine, our two places on New North Road in Islington.
Everything we create is shaped by the ingredients available to us and by the people who grow, mill and produce them. Our menus change with what the farms and suppliers we work with have available, giving us the freedom to respond to the seasons and be playful and creative with what arrives.
We work closely with suppliers such as Landrace Milling in Somerset and Flourish in Cambridgeshire, alongside British producers practising agro-ecological and organic methods. Provenance matters to us, but so does the relationship we have with the ingredients themselves. Our flour is milled to order by Landrace using grain bought directly from farms they trust. The varieties change throughout the year, which means the flour changes too. It is a living ingredient and we adapt our baking with it.
The changing seasons are translated into seasonal flavours. Summer brings strawberry meringue cakes, roast peach pies and gooseberry custard buns. In autumn, our namesake quince appears in tarts and preserves and alongside roast pork in sandwiches. As the days grow cooler, apples, rhubarb and citrus begin to fill the kitchen.
What matters to us
Everything we do is guided by three simple words: joy, nourishment and community.
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At the heart of everything we do is the joy we take in making good food. We want that pleasure and creativity to run through everything, from mixing dough before dawn to working with the best of the season, and through the relationships we build with each other, our growers, suppliers and customers.
We believe the joy in making food is felt in the eating, just as the warmth of a welcome is felt when you walk through the door. We hope that sense of joy is felt in every loaf, every bake and every meal.
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For us, nourishment begins long before food reaches the table. It starts with healthy soils, ingredients farmed with integrity, and skilled growers, millers and producers.
By choosing exceptional ingredients and working with people who care deeply about how food is grown and made, we hope to create food that is as nourishing as it is enjoyable to eat.
Nourishment is also about how we make people feel. We want everyone who comes through our doors to feel cared for, well fed and looked after.
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Quince has always been shaped by the people around it. The producers we work with, the neighbours who visit each week and the friendships that have grown around our tables, our counter and our shelves are just as important as the food itself.
That community extends to the growers, artisans, suppliers and friends across hospitality who are part of what we do.
Anna Higham
Quince was founded by our head baker, Anna Higham, a Scottish pastry chef, baker and author whose love of food began in a busy family kitchen. The youngest of four, Anna grew up helping her mother, Ruth, cook for family and friends, building lasagnes, frying apples for tarts and joining in wherever she could.
After starting out studying architecture at Glasgow School of Art, Anna followed her passion for food. She went on to cook and bake at Gramercy Tavern in New York and Lyle's, Flor and The River Café in London, developing her love of British produce, fruit, grain and baking along the way.
Her first book, The Last Bite, was published in 2022. In 2024, she finally opened the neighbourhood bakery she'd wanted to create since leaving art school: Quince. Clementine followed across the road in 2026.
“The UK has such a rich baking and food heritage, with so much opportunity for experimentation and creativity. While we often look to Europe, particularly France, or to places like Copenhagen and America for inspiration, I think there is still so much untapped potential in our own traditions. That’s something I wanted to explore at Quince and now at Clementine: taking those traditions and finding new ways to make them our own.”
— Anna Higham
