Newens - The Original Maids of Honour

The Maids of Honour tart takes its name from a Tudor-era legend: Henry VIII is said to have tasted the little curd tarts after seeing the Queen's ladies-in-waiting eating them, liked them enough to name them, and later had the recipe locked away at Richmond Palace. Whatever the truth of the royal story, a Maids of Honour shop is documented in Richmond from the early 18th century, and Robert Newens served his apprenticeship there before taking over the tradition of baking and selling the tarts in 1850. He moved the business to its current site on Kew Road in 1860, where it has operated ever since.

Newens has held its own version of the recipe under lock and key since 1957, and the tart, a puff pastry shell filled with sweetened curd cheese, remains the shop's core product, baked fresh and served warm alongside a wider bakery and tearoom menu of pies, cakes and savouries. The tearoom next door serves coffee, cake, full afternoon tea and lunch using the same traditional methods, and the bakery still takes orders for wedding and occasion cakes. Few bakeries anywhere can point to a documented, continuously operating home on the same street for more than 160 years.