Popular Edinburgh bakery hires 'queue warden' as children 'forced onto road' by 'oblivious' customers

A popular Edinburgh bakery has engaged a “queue warden” to manage its waiting customers as parents from a local primary school warned crowds are forcing children onto the road.

Lannan Bakery, in Edinburgh’s Stockbridge district, has come under fire from parents at the nearby primary school, who claim the number of people waiting on the pavement are causing a hazard for families walking to the school, which is just metres from the bakery.

The bakery, which was opened in 2023 by Darcie Maher, has won multiple awards and accolades since it opened, including the Pastry Opening of the Year at La Liste's 2024 World Pastry Awards.

Lannan has a strong social media presence, which has attracted large numbers of people to the shop - and features on many tourists’ Edinburgh hit lists. Ms Maher has insisted she has tried to control the behaviour of crowds in the past, with strict rules such as limiting the number of pastries people can buy and insisting that no pictures are taken of staff at work.

Queues for the bakery often start to form hours before it opens, with the shop regularly sold out by lunchtime.

The queue at Lannan Bakery | Neil Johnstone

Petulia Melideo, whose children attend Stockbridge Primary School, said the bakery’s location on the corner of Saxe Coburg Terrace and Hamilton Place where two roads meet, and the narrow pavement meant the situation could be “treacherous” for pupils trying to reach the school gates.

She said: “When Lannan opens, there is already a line because they limit the number of people that can go inside. It’s very popular, which is good for them. But the problem is that all the people line up on the same pavement that the kids walk on to get to school - and that's already quite a treacherous pavement.

“We've had incidents happen in the past because it's quite narrow. There are cars parked on the double yellow lines and there is a turning point just at that corner. So it's already a bit of a tricky one.

“Parents with children are having to go on the road and there have been cases where people standing in line have dogs who have been quite aggressive towards other dogs and people with buggies.”

Ms Maher told The Scotsman she had engaged a “queue warden” to manage the situation.

However, Ms Melideo said the new member of staff had not yet been seen at the bakery. The school’s parent council is understood to have approached Ms Maher and the council about the “problematic safety aspect” of the queue.

She said: “Darcie recognised that it was problematic and said she was going to hire a person to mind the queue - like a bouncer.”

The bakery's appeal is so great some are waiting up to two hours to get a pastry. Photo: Lannan Bakery

Ms Melideo said people in the queue were “completely oblivious of the fact that it's a neighbourhood with children and elderly people”.

Ms Maher has put black tape down on the pavement to encourage people to queue close to the building. However, Ms Melideo said customers did not follow the rules.

In addition to crowds of people queuing, a lack of public seating in the area has resulted in customers sitting in private doorways to eat their pastries and take photos for social media. These instances include reports of someone setting up a tripod on a doorstep to video their baked goods.

As Edinburgh gears up for a summer of festival shows and thousands of visitors, Ms Melideo said the situation would only get worse as more people descend on the city.

Ms Maher said: “The safety of the children and parents at Stockbridge Primary School is a priority for us at Lannan. We continue to work closely with the school and have engaged a queue warden to manage the queue at Lannan - a new full-time member of staff has been brought on board for this purpose.”

The bakery recently expanded its site on Hamilton Place, using a space that had previously been rented out to another business. The team has also announced plans to bring in a pre-order system to help ease the number of people queuing.

Edinburgh Council has been contacted for comment.