You can buy non-chorleywood bread from bakers and from most supermarkets in the UK (look for their 'sourdough' loaves, some might even give a fermentation time)

But French bread is still particularly good somehow, there is just nothing like a fresh baguette from a baker in a small village in rural France.

So there's something else going on there IMHO. Specifically with baguettes.

(I wish I could find a good baguette here in Western Australia, most of them are utter trash. As are most of the croissants, though I was able to find a specialist baker for those so not all is lost...)

It is mostly the freshness. There is a reason it all comes from small local bakeries - it has to be made that morning. Even by the afternoon it will not be as good.

I learned to bake when I lived in London, because the average bread was simply awful. It's surprisingly easy to get something as good at home, as long as you have a decent dutch oven.

It really makes me wonder what else is going on everywhere else, because it really comes down to just flour, water, salt, and yeast.