- Greg Hands MP will be working to help Partridges revive the historic Chelsea Bun.
- The Chelsea Bun has fallen out of fashion in recent years but has more than a 300 year history in central London, having been first baked at the Chelsea Bun House in the early eighteenth century.
- Greg is championing this year’s World Chelsea Bun Awards which was founded by Partridges based in Duke of York Square. People are invited to enter photographs of Chelsea Buns they have made on Instagram or deliver their Chelsea Buns to Partridges early on Saturday, 18 May.
Greg Hands MP adds his voice to the campaign to help revive the historic and much loved British pastry, the Chelsea Bun.
The MP for Chelsea & Fulham and Minister for London is championing this year’s World Chelsea Bun Awards which was founded by Partridges based in Duke of York Square, Kings Road, in 2019.
The Chelsea Bun is a sweet currant bun flavoured with lemon peel and mixed spice or cinnamon and has more than 300 year history in central London, having been first baked at the Chelsea Bun House in the early eighteenth century.
The Bun House was located near where Royal Hospital Road runs today, although there is also reckoned to be an oven still in existence underneath Linley Antiques, on Pimlico Road.
The most famous proprietor of the Chelsea bakery was Richard Hand, also known as ‘Captain Bun’, who came from Staffordshire, which is where Greg’s family originates from, but there is no other evidence of them being relatives!
During Captain Hand’s time running the Bun House, the royal family - King George II and Queen Charlotte – as well as other local aristocrats, would often frequent the bakery which also gave the bakery the name ‘Royal Bun House’. The Hand family ran the Chelsea Bun House, it is thought, for four generations, before it was demolished.
Traditionally, on Good Friday people would buy Chelsea Buns, queuing on the Five Fields (now known as Belgravia) waiting for the Bun House to open at 3:00 am or 4:00 am. According to some sources, 50,000 people joined the queue and police were required to maintain order. Less than a million people lived in London at the time, so 50,000 was a substantial number of bun fans.
Remarkably, the Museum of London preserves an eighteenth century Chelsea Bun, which Greg was able to inspect on a visit to the museum recently (picture).
Greg is seeking to help Partridges revive interest in the Chelsea Bun, which has fallen out of fashion in recent years, possibly due to it being too sweet. It is possible to make lighter or seasonal variants, and some of these might be entered into the annual World Chelsea Bun Awards, which take place in May.
The Chelsea Bun bake-off competition has been launched and people are invited to enter photographs of Chelsea Buns they have made on Instagram or deliver their Chelsea Buns to Partridges early on Saturday, 18 May where they will be judged by Jane Asher and Lady Frederick Windsor, Patrons of The Children’s Surgery Foundation.
Entrants to the World Chelsea Bun Awards are encouraged to make a donation to The Children’s Surgery Foundation which is raising money to supply an intravenous vein finder to each of the 26 paediatric surgery wards in the UK. Last year the Awards raised over £10,000.
For more information see - https://www.worldchelseabunawards.com/
Commenting, Greg Hands said:
“I remember as a child how virtually every bakery stocked fresh Chelsea buns, yet now the delicacy is hard to come by, having lost popularity to the hot cross bun, the croissant, the pain au raisin and so on.
It is nonetheless very tasty and has a long, London tradition. As seen with the 200 year old bun in the Museum of London, it is a very rich part of the city’s heritage and I would be delighted to see its revival.
Britain also has a long heritage of regional, sweet delicacies, like the Chorley Cake, the Eccles Cake, Dundee Cake and so on.
I will be working to help Partridges revive the Chelsea Bun’s fortunes - let’s hope that, when it comes to the Chelsea Bun, we can have our cake and eat it!”
ENDS
