An iconic Merseyside tea room has been saved after a mum and daughter ate breakfast there.
The Nostalgia Tea Room on Lord Street in Southport is now thriving under new ownership after Margaret and Rebecca Richardson recently took over the business. The tea room is known for its beautiful view from the first floor and the Victorian outfits that staff wear when serving customers, with it remaining largely the same but with slight improvements.
Rebecca is originally from Salford and her mum Margaret is originally from Wightinton in south Manchester but both fancied a change in direction when they moved to the seaside town 18 months ago. The pair first bought The Vale House guest house on Talbot Street when they arrived but when they called into the Nostalgia Tea Room for breakfast one day they fell in love.
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When the mum and daughter first visited the owners at the time had recently announced their decision to vacate the business casting a shadow of doubt over the future of the well-established tea room. Rebecca said: "We came into Nostalgia Tea Room for breakfast one day, and we just fell in love with the place.
“We heard the owners were leaving, and we thought ‘we have got to save this place’. Two weeks later we decided to buy it.”
When the business owners arrived in Southport in November 2020 times were different with coronavirus rampant but life has since improved as restrictions have eased. Rebecca said: "We moved to Southport because we wanted to be near the seaside, and Southport is a beautiful town to live and work in.
“We love Manchester, but Manchester is very built up now, a little bit like London, and we wanted to be somewhere with a different quality of life. Now we are at Nostalgia Tea Room, we just want people to realise that we are open again. Some people out there think that this business has closed, but we are very much open.
“We have had lots of phone calls from people asking ‘is everything still the same?' Even from people asking if the furniture is still the same? People love it. We have some fantastic staff here. The backbone of the team is still here, including Abbie, Vicki and Nettie.
Margaret explained what she's enjoying about the north Merseyside resort. She said: "We were really keen to keep everything here as it is. We loved the girls’ uniforms and the Victorian traditions. We even still have all of the famous teapots along the shelves. “We love being on Lord Street. It is beautiful.
Vicki Sutton, who will have been working at Nostalgia Tea Room for 24 years this August, is ecstatic that Rebecca and Margaret have taken over. She said: “I came here straight from school and I have been here ever since. I am so happy that the Nostalgia Tea Room is still open.
“All the customers are really happy that this place has been saved. There are customers who have been coming here even before I started work here, this place is very popular! I spoke to some customers this morning who said they have been coming here for 25 years.
Nostalgia Tea Room is at 215-217 Lord Street, Southport town centre.
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