A London MP is spearheading a campaign to save the Chelsea bun from being driven to extinction by competition from foreign imports such as the French pain aux raisins and the Portuguese pastel de nata.
Greg Hands, who represents, of course, Chelsea & Fulham and is Minister for London, says the teatime favourite, once on display in virtually every bakery window in the capital, is becoming increasingly hard to find.
The bun is one of London’s oldest culinary treats, tracing its roots back to the early 18th century, when it was said to have been first baked at a property later known as the Chelsea Bun House, near where Royal Hospital Road runs today, which was popular with Hanoverian royalty. According to legend, an estimated 50,000 queued to buy them on one Good Friday such was the popularity of a delight written about by Jonathan Swift, Charles Dickens and Lewis Carroll.
They are made from egg-enriched yeast dough that is flavoured with lemon peel, cinnamon or mixed spice and spread with a mixture of currants, brown sugar and butter. After being baked, they are brushed with a cold-water sugar syrup while still hot to leave a sweet, sticky glaze.
The Minister for London has teamed up with Partridges, an independent food shop on Duke of York Square, King’s Road, which launched the World Chelsea Bun Awards in 2019 to bring attention to its decline.
Mr Hands fears the bun may have fallen victim to changing tastes with consumers preferring a less sweet pastry. He 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 aux raisins 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 closely with Partridges to help 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!”
For the 2024 Chelsea Bun Awards, amateur and professional bakers are invited to enter photographs of buns they have made on Instagram or deliver theirs to Partridges early on May 18 where they will be judged by Jane Asher and Lady Frederick Windsor, patrons of The Children’s Surgery Foundation.
