Steampunks set to open tea room in Lincoln
New life has been breathed into retail premises in Lincoln with the arrival of a second business.
Chartered surveyor Banks Long & Co has leased space in Free School Lane to Lady Rose’s Edwardian Tea Room, which is due to serve its first customers this Saturday.
The historic building, opposite the city library, once formed part of a Lincolnshire Co-op department store and has since housed businesses including a photographic studio and a dentists.
The new follows the Lincoln-based agency letting a neighbouring part of the building to Hidden Hearing. The firm has relocated from Cornhill Pavement to allow for progress on the £12m Cornhill Quarter project, which will see a revamp of the Corn Exchange building and the Sincil Street area of the city.
Lady Rose’s Edwardian Tea Room – which is inspired by Downton Abbey – is the brainchild of steampunks Chris and Nikki Fairey who formerly traded from the Assembly Rooms in Bailgate.
Chris (better known as Prometheus Gearing) and his wife Nikki (known as Rose Gearing) are now putting the finishing touches to their new venue and looking forward to welcoming customers old and new.
Chris said: “We were at The Assembly Rooms for ten months and, despite some incompatibility with the venue’s own activities, we got to be the number two tearoom in Lincoln on TripAdvisor and also received a Quality Certificate of Excellence.
“We saw our Free School Lane premises last year but we were initially unsure about basing ourselves in the area. Then we decided that being slightly away from the High Street and right opposite the beautiful library building, would work really well for us.
“We are also delighted about the fact that we will be able to seat 30 people in our
new tearoom, because there is more space than we had previously.”
In 2012, Chris started making and selling Victorian-style Steampunk clothes over the Internet and he is still continuing to do that. Nikki wanted to get involved in this interest and, because she has service industry experience, the pair launched a pop-up tearoom at 68 Bailgate in October 2014.
It was due to close following the city’s Christmas Market, which led to the pair approaching the Assembly Rooms and opening up there.
Their new tearoom promises to provide customers with just the same genteel ambience, with time to relax and tuck into fabulous confections and enjoy olde-world style service from Chis and Nikki – or the “butler and the maid!”
“We will be open from Mondays to Saturdays between 10am and 5pm and on Sundays from 12 noon to 4pm, and serving favourites like our popular cherry and almond bake, with star anise, West Indian sticky ginger cake filled with Chantilly cream and smothered with honeycomb crunch, and more,” said Nikki.
Banks Long & Co Surveyor Harriet Hatcher said: “We were delighted to assist
Chris and Nikki with their search for the ideal premises for their exciting period tearoom.
“We are sure it will prove to be a popular attraction with locals and visitors to Lincoln alike.”
