Welcome to Bristol’s new doughnut quarter

“This feels more like playing the bagpipes than cooking,” says Brian O’Hara on a recent morning at Small Goods as he pipes fillings into the ‘custard crevice’ of dozens of doughnuts.

The latest business from the team behind Small Street Espresso and Little Victories specialises in coffee and doughnuts, with Brian putting the finishing touches to a batch of vanilla creations.

Just around the corner, the team at Future Doughnuts are also finessing their own doughnuts in a space underneath a railway arch designed to feel like you are stepping into a cartoon.

Opened by a couple who also own a record shop in Old Market, the doughnuts at Future Doughnuts are all vegan, with the coffee always roasted by female roasters.

Welcome to Bristol’s new doughnut quarter!

Small Goods is located on Glass Wharf just the other side of the cheesegrater bridge from Temple Meads.

In time, the kitchen here will also provide baked goods for Small Street in the Old City and Little Victories in Wapping Wharf.

Doughnuts so far have included classics such as raspberry jam and vanilla, as well as the more experimental liquid brownie and coffee cream.

It has taken around four years to get to this point for the Small Goods team, with co-owner John Drysdale saying that “now is the time to get exciting with the flavours and in the next few months really have fun with it”.

Small Goods has a Miami Vice feel, with a pink and blue colour scheme and customers soon due to be welcomed inside, where breakfast and lunch options will also be served.

“It’s about having something that fits the area and is challenging for us,” says John.

“I know there’s people out there who won’t like doughnuts and that’s completely fair enough, but I’m yet to meet many of them. Coffee and doughnuts is just a really good fit.”

On their new neighbours, John said it was “fantastic for everyone” that people could come down to Bristol’s new doughnut quarter to sample delicacies from both Small Goods and Future Doughnuts.

Small Goods has a Miami Vice-style theme inside – photo: Martin Booth

Over at Future Doughnuts on Oxford Street, manager Kerry Beesley explains how they have got a lot planned for the business. “Our main goal is for our doughnuts to be amazing!”

Close to an existing pasty shop and bike shop, Future Doughnuts, Kerry says it’s “a nice little community and we’re really excited to be a part of it”.

As well as being vegan, all of the doughnuts here created by baker Eadie McCarthy are made with organic ingredients which are locally sourced where possible, with gluten-free and refined sugar-free options.

Doughnut options so far have included strawberry sprinkles, lemon meringue pie, red velvet and lemon poppy seed.

Future Doughnuts manager Kerry Beesley outside the new cafe and bakery – photo: Martin Booth

“The whole idea with Future Doughnuts is that we wanted it to look like a cartoon,” says Kerry. “So the place looks like a cartoon and the doughnuts look like doughnuts that you would see in a cartoon.”

Artist Max Kemp from Shake Bristol has been in charge of the art and design, working alongside co-owner Kay Stanley, who had to have her appendix taken out in Future Doughnuts’ opening week but is now on the road to recovery.

Kay and her partner, Andrew Home, also own Specialist Subject Records on the first floor of the Exchange on Old Market Street, in the music venue’s former green room.

Kerry has been on the hunt for suitable coffees to serve in Future Doughnuts, ideally working with roasteries run by women, which at the moment includes Loud Mouth Coffee from Frome and Hard Lines Coffee from Cardiff.

On being at the heart of Bristol’s new doughnut quarter, Kerry added: “I think it’s really interesting and very cool that we can have the same kind of basic idea and make it so different.”

All of the doughnuts at Future Doughnuts, including Kerry’s favourite, the lemon meringue pie, are 100 per cent vegan – photo: Martin Booth

Future Doughnuts is located within a railway arch on Oxford Street in the Dings – photo: Martin Booth

Main photo: Martin Booth

Read more: Bristol’s pizza scene just got even better with the new Flour & Ash and Pizza Bianchi

Listen to the latest Bristol24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast: