The Old Chelsea Bun House - a royal treat
The Chelsea bun is a type of currant bun made of a rich yeast dough flavoured with lemon peel, cinnamon or mixed spice. It was first baked in London in the 18th century at the Old Chelsea Bun House, an establishment favoured by Hanoverian royalty.
It was a one-storied building with an elaborate colonnade, situated on Jew's Row by the Ranelagh Pleasure Gardens - a popular entertainment destination of the time.
The Old Chelsea Bun House bakery’s most famous proprietor was Richard Hand, known as ‘Captain Bun’, who kept a curious collection of clocks, models, paintings, statues and other curiosities there.
During Hand's time, his shop was frequented by the royal family and other aristocrats, who lived nearby. King George II often visited Hand, as did Queen Charlotte - who gifted Hand's wife a silver half-gallon mug with five guineas. Due to the regal patronage, the bakery became informally known as the Royal Bun House. Writer Jonathan Swift bought a Chelsea bun from there, and wrote 'it cost me a penny; it was stale, and I did not like it…'.
The buns were popular with ordinary people too - it was customary for working people to buy Chelsea buns from the Bun House on a Good Friday. Large crowds would gather on the Five Fields (later developed as Belgravia). The bakery opened at 3am or 4am. Due to the volume of people, buns were only sold through shutters, and a police presence was required to maintain order. According to legend, on the first day that the confection was introduced by the Old Chelsea Bun House, 50,000 people queued up to buy one.
However, sales of Chelsea buns steadily fell after the Ranelagh Gardens closed in 1803. After Hand died, his wife - and then their two sons - continued to run the business. But once the last son died in 1839, the bakery reverted to the Crown, and Hand's collection of curioisities were auctioned off. Eventually another bun house was built in its place, and was named the 'Real Old Chelsea Bun House', and benefited from its predecessor's reputation.
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