Last cup of tea and cake at historic tea rooms
IT will be a sad day when the last cuppa and slice of cake are served at Hathaway Tea Rooms when it closes its doors on Saturday 4th February after 92 years of trading in the town.
Owner, Sarah McMillan, who last month celebrated the first anniversary of running the much loved historic café and restaurant wants the last day to also be a celebration of memories surrounding the tea rooms which has given work to hundreds of teenagers as their first jobs and welcomed visitors from all around the world.
“I can confirm the tearoom will close in its present format on that day. I have no idea what the landlord has planned, I’ve heard various things but I don’t know for certain. While I’ve been here I’ve met some amazing people and had visitors from all over Europe and Korea pop in which is why I also want the day to be uplifting especially when there’s been 92 years of people working at Hathaway Tea Rooms,” Sarah said.
As part of that celebration, she’s inviting the community to get involved and wants to produce a memoir of the tea rooms to include recipes, images and local stories from anyone who has had a connection with the place and she’s collecting that information now.
“Anyone who has memories of the tea rooms or who worked here are welcome to contribute whether they were waitressing or customers. A recipe book with all those memories and pictures with my reminiscences included will help acknowledge the tea rooms place in Stratford life,” said Sarah.
But there are some paranormal visitors to Hathaway Tea Rooms who might not be too happy about the closure as Sarah explains.
“We’ve had some very interesting times,” she said. “Our weekend manager, Max O’Connor-Stewart, served a lady who was sat at a table and the next time he turned round to serve her she was gone. Max is as straight as a die but just couldn’t explain what had happened. We have a piano downstairs that starts playing when there’s no one there and there’s a miaowing cat at the back door. I was baking really early one day and the miaowing started by the kitchen door but when I opened the door the miaowing stopped and there was no cat to be seen.”
There have been some impromptu piano performances in the tea rooms like the time when blues singer, Connie Lush, sang to entertain diners while she waited for her food order and piano tuner and technician, Andrew Cave, has taken to the keys much to the delight of customers.
Sarah says she’s had a great team around her during her time in charge including her daughter, Elinor, who dealt with the payroll, HR and managed the office at the tea rooms and head chef, William Gott and his colleague, Ryan Ward.
“We look forward to welcoming our customers on Saturday and the whole experience has been absolute pleasure,” Sarah said.
