Just Grand! Vintage Tearoom

There are many things about this place that give it the high rating so let’s go for a list:
— amazing selection of fresh teas
— every detail is vintage, including a dear old lady on the next table who looked like she had been transported from the past
— menus on actual records
— super friendly staff
— tasty tasty cakes
— even the toilets are worth a visit with walls plastered in vintage posters and adverts
Great place for a girly visit or to take your mum.

If you like a good tearoom, but don’t fancy your common high street café, there will always be an independent gem waiting to be discovered.
I walked past this early during the day, one day and I thought to myself, «I need to try this place out when I’m ready for a tea». So after some browsing around the city centre, I dropped in just before 5pm on a Saturday afternoon.
This is quite a nice café located in a nice arcade, and is decorated with that vintage feeling. I was greeted and seated by friendly staff, and not wanting to beat around the bush, I made my order at the counter: two pots of tea and a lemon and chocolate cake.
Just like the interior, the food and drink are served in vintage china, with vintage cutlery. The tea was very good, but I think because the time of day, my lemon cake was on the hard side, but not sure if this was the cake.
Another ‘star killer’ was that the table cloth wasn’t cleaned thoroughly, and there was jam on the cloth, from a previous diner that hadn’t been cleaned up.
Overall I think this is a place to have a break from the hustle and bustle, but based on my visit, I give them only 3 stars. Hopefully my next will be better!

Halfway down the Grand Arcade, with a couple of tables outside and more inside this is one of my favourite places for a nice pot of tea and a cake.
The tea comes in a real teapot, accompanied by a china cup and saucer with a tea strainer and a timer to let you know when it’s brewed. You do have to watch the timer as it doesn’t always go off; I suspect it’s one off those situation where it looks so simple to set that the waiter hasn’t checked how to do it.
I love the floor; the ‘rug’ is a combination of painting and découpage, it looks gorgeous, cleans easily and there’s no trip hazard. The loos are even more amazing; wallpapered with pages from magazines of the 50s, 60s and 70s, iit gives me flashbacks to my lost youth .
They have the sort of cakes and gateaus that can only be made by someone who has the talent and skill to match their imagination; I’m talking Gin & Tonic Cake, Oreo Brownie Cake! Actually, I usually go for a couple of crumpets with melted cheddar on top but I have had the scone (to rhyme with gone) and that was pretty good too. My beloved seems to be working his way through the list of scones, apart from the cherry as he doesn’t like cherries. I’m working my way through the list of teas, which is possibly the most creative tea list I’ve seen in a long time (pear and caramel anyone? nice and not as sweet as it sounds.)
They also have a full liquor licence so you could lash out and have a prosecco instead of a nice cup of tea.
I can’t find a web address but there is a facebook page