In the short time since it opened in July 2023, 27-year-old Darcie Maher’s Lannan Bakery has not only become a staple of Edinburgh’s independent food scene, but also amassed a devoted following of regulars—and international Instagram fans. Locals and tourists alike make the pilgrimage-turned-rite-of-passage to its location on one of Stockbridge’s most beautiful corners to join the queue as early as 6 a.m., desperately hoping to nab a pastry before they sell out.
“Everyone always asks, ‘Why don’t you just make more?’ Well, we physically can’t,” says Maher, with a laugh. The bakery was originally intended to have two employees—now it has 14—and the staff are in seven days a week despite it being open for just four. The bakery has maxed out how many pastries can fit on their trays and in their ovens—but its new redesign is good news for any Lannan hopefuls.
Lannan closed for the whole of January 2025 for a renovation that includes converting the entire lower floor to become an extensive prep area. “The plan is to double production, which we’re going to do quite gradually, and open for more days each week.” The pastries will still be baked on the top floor—with the help of a newly added elevator—so that guests remain welcomed by the smell of freshly baked Viennoiseries upon entrance.
While practicality was the driving force behind the renovation, the extension is as aesthetically pleasing as the rest of the space. “The downstairs will feel like Lannan despite the fact that it’s first and foremost a workspace,” Maher says of the marble-veined countertops, art-clad walls, and color scheme that sticks to the warm tones and hues that have become Lannan’s calling card. “I want it to be a beautiful, inspiring setting for the bakers.”
Maher left school at 15 and worked as a chef for five years, before applying to—and being rejected by—all the bakeries in Edinburgh. This precipitated a stint outside Manchester working at Flour Water Salt before returning to Edinburgh and then her home in the Scottish Borders. When the pandemic derailed her plans to move to Australia in 2020, she spent the next year developing recipes and consulting for other bakeries, all while dreaming up what would ultimately become Lannan.
Maher was in conversation with Chloe Black, founder of The Edinburgh Butter Company Co., about starting a bakery together while she was leading the pastry program at The Palmerston’s bakery when the restaurant’s owners, James Snowdon and Lloyd Morse, approached her with the same idea. The group decided to join forces, and Maher spent the next two years working as pastry chef at The Palmerston’s bakery while meeting fortnightly to set the wheels in motion for Lannan.
News of the recent renovation may have been shared widely among Lannan’s fans, but one key detail was intentionally omitted. The buildout is actually the second of three phases—with the final stage set to be the sweetest treat. At the far end of the building site, there is a storeroom holding excess equipment. Towards the end of this year, Maher plans to convert the space to open a café restaurant alongside Lannan Bakery, providing the block with a much sought-after sit-in spot.
But a larger Lannan it won’t be. “It’s going to be a completely new concept. We’re going for a rich green theme and completely different interiors.” Seeing as it wouldn’t open until next year, and Maher is renovating both the Lannan kitchen and her home kitchen simultaneously—all the while planning an additional project, in case she didn’t have enough on her plate already. “I’ve already ordered the chairs,” Maher admits, alluding to a design commission she has in the works with Scottish handmade furniture makers, The Marchmont Workshop.
With her keen eye for design, would Maher ever want to work in the interiors world full-time? “If I didn’t bake, that's what I’d want to do,” she says. “I want the café to look different from the bakery just so I can throw myself into a new project.” Maher notes she looked at hundreds of wood stains before landing on the dark walnut tone for the custom-built counter which holds over 30 varieties of sweet and savory creations. The same painstaking process went into selecting the paint and tile samples, which eventually became the brick quarry tiles from Hertfordshire that carpet the floor to offset the hand-painted blue Decorum of Cornwall tiles adorning the butter-yellow walls.
“The color scheme is something I’ve always had in my head. Everyone told me it was going to be too yellow and that I should go for something a lot lighter and cleaner,” Maher notes. Sticking to her guns, she proceeded with the golden-hued walls that have become emblematic of the space. “Many new bakeries opt for a minimalistic Scandi vibe, which I’m very up for, but it’s just not me.” Maher says she has always known exactly how she wanted Lannan to feel. “A lot of the design draws on traditional French style, but really it’s just an amalgamation of everything that makes me feel at home,” she says. “All the artworks are my mum's and the big blue pot on the main shelf was my granny’s.”
It also helps that she has been dreaming of owning a bakery since she was a child. “Growing up, I had a mud pie bakery in the garden called ‘The Little Red Hen,” reminisces Maher. “I knew Lannan needed to feel warm and homely—and it needed to make me feel just like I did back then.”
Looking back, it’s a little surprising that this small Scottish bakery has come to attract such fervid attention in a relatively short period of time. But Lannan’s ascent can be attributed to a perfect storm: the combination of well-designed interiors, an ultra-photogenic corner location, and the growing name recognition of Darcie Maher. It didn’t help, Maher admits, that she had been hinting about it on socials all the year before it opened.
When asked if she ever intended for Lannan to be as popular as it is, however, Maher’s answer is a resounding ‘no.’ “I’m obviously very, very grateful for how busy we are, but I’m quite a quiet, calm person,” she says. “I think people suspect there is some kind of ulterior motive, but it’s really just a little girl’s dream come true.”