TEA TIME AGAIN AT FRANCIS
A VINTAGE Scarborough tearoom is set to serve up a flavour of 1930s chic after a new management team took on the business.
The Francis Tearooms, in South Street, South Cliff, is now under the guidance of former waitress Rosalind Pilgrim.
Miss Pilgrim, of Cromwell Road, served tables for six years at the traditional venue, but said she felt undaunted about her new venture.
The teenager is currently working to give the tearooms’ interior a refurbishment, but guaranteed its famous booths - harking back to the era when the premises was a hairdressing salon - would be retained.
The future of the cafe had been under the spotlight after it suddenly closed and landlords changed the locks.
However, Miss Pilgrim said she was confident of returning the business to its former glory.
She said: “The cafe is quite a nostalgic place for some people and we hope that once people see we are open again they will come back.
“We had quite a big customer base and the aim is to rediscover that.
“The building will stay the same and the booths will remain and we want to have the same type of atmosphere.
“The work we are carrying out will spruce the place up a little though and we are looking at changing the menu a bit too.
“But it will still have its 1930s feel and we are planning to bring back the music of that era too.”
Despite her tender age, Miss Pilgrim said she felt no pressure about taking on the business, especially during the unsettled economic climate.
She added: “I have seen it through three different bosses and seen what they have done.
“I hope I can pick the best bits of what they achieved and put them back into the business.
“We do get a lot of people that travel quite far to come to us as well as the local people who have come here for years.
“While we will change the menu slightly, there will be the cream teas and afternoon teas and we will be serving with china cups.”
Miss Pilgrim added she had targeted an opening date for the refurbished tearooms on Tuesday, March 6.