The English Roses advance of publication. Puffin employed Coleman Getty Public Relations to handle the book's launch They faced difficulty promoting the book since details of the storyline were not allowed press releases. Nicky Stonehill of Coleman Getty—who had only an hour to discuss the PR strategy with Madonna—used the media hype surrounding the release and struck up an exclusive deal with "The Times" of London to publish excerpts from the book. The day before the book's publication Madonna threw a promotional tea party at London's Kensington Roof Gardens, inviting friends and celebrities. A pink, sparkling carpet flanked by fences adorned with roses
The English Bread Book considered the book "excellent, and we trust to be popular". Readers of the book, the reviewer thought, will become possessed of a store of useful knowledge, as well as scientific as practical, upon a question which is essentially that of every man, woman and child in the wide universe". In her work, "English Bread and Yeast Cookery", Elizabeth David writes that "The English Bread Book" heavily influenced and informed her work, and she owes Acton a debt for it. The food writer Elizabeth Ray observes that the book was less successful than "Modern Cookery", and was only reprinted in 1990.