This England’s Finest Tea Rooms

Westart off this issue in Scandinavia, with a nomination sent in by Helen Eriksson, who lives in Nyköping, Sweden. But you don’t need to travel that far to find her favourite tea room because it is situated in Helen’s English home town. She praises The Plaza Cafe, Stockport, Cheshire, saying it is “one of England’s finest tea rooms,” which takes you back to “the elegant, relaxed atmosphere of the 1930s.”

The Plaza certainly has a fascinating location. “It is situated on the first floor of a cinema built in 1932, which fell into disuse in the 1960s,” says Helen, “But since 2000 it has been lovingly restored by a band of stalwart volunteers.”

Today’s audiences can look forward to a delicious menu of light lunches, including smoked salmon and scrambled egg on toast, quiche and salad, and Welsh rarebit. Top billing, of course, is given to afternoon teas, with many varieties of tea on offer. The cafe is open from Monday to Saturday.

The waitresses, who are all volunteers, wear the proper “nippy” uniforms and Helen emphasises the freshly prepared food, pointing out: “There are no pre-packed sandwiches here!”

All the profits go to the trust fund which continues to run, maintain and restore the venue. For Helen this is a real taste of home and she says: “We make a point of calling in each time we visit my family in Stockport.”

It sounds like a real star performer, so a certificate is on its way to the silver-screen splendour of The Plaza.

We’ll return to Cheshire later on, but in the meantime it’s down to The Riseley Village Tea Room, Memorial Hall, Riseley, Berkshire. This is nominated by Mrs. M. K. Day, from Ash in Surrey, who visited there to celebrate the 20th anniversary of her local Contact the Elderly group. She writes: “The hall is converted into the most delightful tea room with bone china crockery and wonderful tea. It took us all back to our childhood.”

Teas are served from Thursdays to Sundays (2pm to 5pm) and there is a choice of 10 teas and four flavours of jam served with the scones and cream. Mrs. Day highlights “a wonderful and plentiful selection of dainty sandwiches and a lovely range of