Opened by two former teachers, Sue Price and Karen Chetwin along with friend Helen Grainer, the Willow Tree Tea Room opened first its doors last month on 7th January.
Located at where the former Bluebird Café stood, Karen, Sue and Helen have given the premises a full-blown vintage makeover. After swapping the classroom for cake-baking, they are hoping that the risky decision to leave the teaching profession will take off and follow their dream.
Karen said: “We’d had enough of teaching as we’d been doing it for some time. We knew Sue was a really good cook and talked for quite a while about doing something different together, so when this place came on the market, we thought it would be ideal for what we wanted to do.”
As well as serving the traditional tea and coffee, the Willow Tree also has an extensive menu catering for all tastes, including vegans and those looking for gluten-free foods.
The business also aims to be eco-friendly, and the owners are putting measures in place to ensure the venue has a healthy carbon footprint.
Karen said: “As well as teachers, Sue and I were also biologists, so we are really keen to remain green. “The tea rooms will avoid using single-use plastics and recycle as much as possible. We’ll also only use local produce in a bid to reduce food miles.
The café is open Tuesday – Saturday 9am-5pm.