There is a distinction to be made between a tea shop and a café. Bill Gorman, executive director of the Tea Council is something of an expert in the field, as his organisation runs the British Guild of Teashops. "In a survey we did, we looked at the standards of tea served in thousands of outlets and we found that very few were serving tea to a good standard."
Afternoon tea as a British custom dates back to the early 1800s when the aristocracy decided that tea would help ward off those hunger pangs between lunch and dinner. Now, many of us follow suit at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon and the tea shop is a popular venue.
As Gorman explains, the tea shop should have a certain something about it: "It should have the personal touch with care and attention to detail, crisp white linen and a good choice of crockery, bowls with spoons, and sugar lumps with tongs." With the history behind it, the tradition of teatime is that of relaxing: "It should be an experience. Tea as a drink is calming and relaxing, whereas coffee is more for your quick fix caffeine buzz."
Who is it suited to?
While tea shops may be a haven of relaxation for holidaymakers, the pace won't be quite so leisurely if you're running one. There are cakes to be baked for one thing. This is quite literally a job made for rolling your sleeves up. The days will also be quite long - you'll probably open mid-morning, and then after lunch and into the afternoon things will probably be busy. Both Irene Roach, owner of Chattaways in Whitby, North Yorkshire and Alison Ingleby who runs the Riverside tea room in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, admit to being rushed off their feet until late afternoon.
You've also got to be a people person. You're going to be in contact with the public, pretty much all of the time. A welcoming face is important. "If you're not a people person yourself, you need a frontman or woman, who is, instead. It's not like walking into a burger bar, the pace has got to be relaxed," says Paul Williamson from Ernest Wilson's business agents in Bradford.
You also need to know your area so that you can field questions from your customers. If they're tourists, they're likely to be curious about what there is to see in the area. Perhaps they'll want to know of any good local accommodation or the way to the station or the history of a local attraction. They'll remember you if you're able to be helpful. If you don't already know these things, you might want to do your homework and read up on local history.
