Fancy tea? In Glasgow? Then stir up history, add a sweetener to the experience and leave with more than tea and cake to savour. I’m visiting the historical tea rooms, Mackintosh at the Willow, in the city centre. The only flaw…. the dilemma of choosing one of the 32 types of tea which come with those quaint 3-layered pyramid plates overflowing with sweet and savoury delights that could overturn any dietary promise.
The Rise of the Café Culture
Café culture, so central to our society today, was practically non-existent until Glasgow helped to make it fashionable. The city was a major centre for importing and blending tea and coffee back in 1851 when tea was imported from China. Once the taste for tea became established, Glasgow tea rooms took off and by 1897 the number of tea houses in the city was at its peak.
The tea story began in 1903 when Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed The Willow Tea Rooms Building for Miss Cranston, one of his most important and loyal patrons. Miss Cranston’s oldest brother, Stuart, a blender of dry tea, set out tables for 16 customers in his sample room in Glasgow’s Queen Street. A cup of tea for tuppence, (bread and cakes extra) launched Britain’s first tea rooms, somewhat more limiting than my multi-paged menu I’m scrolling through.
The Temperance Movement
The Temperance Movement helped to promote the café society by encouraging abstinence from the demon alcohol and its dangers. Women benefited from the respectability of tea houses where alcohol was barred and finally allowed them to go out without a chaperone in the public place. Teahouses, were however, promoted to men with the incentives of billiard rooms, telephones and telegrams for those gentlemen attending the Exchange Courts Banks and Warehouses.
Unique Design
The restaurant seats up to 200 people across 3 floors with a number of eye-catching spaces, each with their own character and unique design. The Front and Back Saloons are on the ground floor and feature an impressive canopy, skylights and linen wall panels – all designed by Mackintosh. The Gallery is on the mezzanine floor. The famous Salon de Luxe can be enjoyed on a special tour that must be booked in advance. This is the glittering jewel of the venue
Mackintosh designed stencilled friezes of female figures surrounded by roses to decorate the rooms for women. He also designed the cutlery and waitress dresses. He designed high-backed chairs painted in silver, dishes with borders in blue willow leaves, grey carpets, upholstery in purple, mirrors, and enamels mainly in pink and mauve tones, and the famous door with stained glass. Together, these elements were chosen to create a bright and elegant ambience which was fashionable in its day.
The Room de Luxe is one of the most precious interiors which Mackintosh ever designed. The room today still has the original pair of stained-glass doors along with the leaded mirror frieze with purple panelling below and windows with panels of leaded mirror. The Gallery on the mezzanine floor overlooking the back salon has a fireplace on the wall while the ceiling has open beams allowing the light to flow through.
The restoration has retained Mackintosh’s design of conical columns, balustrades and painted wood in white and the set colour scheme.
The Interactive Exhibition & Guided Tour
The exhibition is over two floors, and light levels increase and change from darker to lighter treatments as the visitor transitions from Victorian Glasgow through to the modernity of The Willow on the first floor, where whitewashed timber holds the displays. Mackintosh’s original leaded glass doors of the Salon de Luxe are displayed in a minimal floor-to-ceiling case. The displays throughout incorporate films with experts, tactile and handling material, replica pieces and hands-on interactives.
The tour covers most of the main spaces within the building, highlighting the work undertaken by the restoration team, the interiors within, and how the building relates to other Mackintosh works. It lasts 45 minutes with a maximum group size of 6. It is advised to book in adnace.
Now for Tea
It’s a difficult choice, but I finally select Black Forest Gateaux (£5.95) with the description: “Inspired by a rich and scrumptious cake, this blend brings together layers of carefully selected black teas with fruit pieces and luxury vegan chocolate.” It didn’t disappoint and it tasted as if I was drinking cake! Runners-up included Russian Caravan (£4.95), “This smokey Lapsang blend evokes the historic caravan trails that would have brought tea from China to the European markets” or 1903 blend (£4.95), “crafted exclusively for Mackintosh at the Willow by Pekoe Tea of Edinburgh, the 1903 Blend calls back to the history of the tea trade. A light afternoon blend containing teas from Sri Lanka and China and decorated with rose petals in a nod to the rose motif found in the works of Charles Rennie Mackinstosh. This is certainly a must if you are visiting Glasgow and for a good cause.
The National Trust of Scotland
This A-listed building, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, stands as his last surviving tea room, which originally opened in1903. Miss Cranston and Charles Rennie Mackintosh took the concept of the tea room to new artistic heights. The original venue has restored the artistic integrity of the building as a sustainable business to become self-funding and operate as a genuine social enterprise. Since January this year, the National Trust has acquired it as one of their many precious sites.
Mackintosh at the Willow (the Original Willow Tea Rooms Building) is situated at 215–217 Sauchiehall St, Glasgow, G2 3EX. Bookings Tel 0140 204 1903 or online www.mackintoshatthewillow.com
The Exhibition is free to National Trust Members or £6.50 for adults, £5.00 for concessions and children go free.
The Mackintosh at The Willow operates as a not-for-profit social enterprise, a subsidiary of the registered charity ‘The Willow Tea Rooms Trust’ and is in partnership with the Princes Trust.
Introducing Glasgow
The city of Glasgow was voted the European City of Culture in 1990. The Huntarian Art Galleries and Museum, Charles Rennie Macintosh House, The Burrell Collection and Glasgow Cathedral are must-sees.
Glasgow dates back to 543 AD and has stunning architecture. It’s referred to as the “Victorian city”. But it’s not all buildings. Glasgow boasts no less than 70 parks, so there really is something for everyone.
