"The queue of people eagerly waiting to fill their baskets with delicious treats from Aries Bakehouse could easily make it look like the trick-or-treaters had got their dates wrong. The community-based bakery on Brixton’s Acre Lane founded by Jackie McKinson, born to parents of Jamaican heritage and raised in Brixton, occupies what used to be her mum’s sweet shop in the 1980s. It is now home to some of the best bread and pastries in London — with a reputation for dazzling seasonal and weekend specials. A deep-filled pumpkin pie made with roasted crown prince squash grown by McKinson’s father and intensely sweet Delica pumpkin puree makes an annual return: Riotously flaky crust giving way to a flavour-packed, custardy filling. There is also a pumpkin spice loaf cake with maple cream cheese frosting — moist but not spineless with a crumb that retains some textural intrigue. Pumpkin bagels resemble lifebuoy rings, bright orange with pumpkin flesh and topped with toasted seeds, and in a city where truly great bagels are few and far between, these certainly feel like a lifeline." - Emma Louise Pudge