A Tea Room is Brewing

Introducing '_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Tea Rooms'

Bute Park is in amazing hands

You may say that I am biased as I am soon to directly benefit from the restoration of this stunning historic park land with the chance to turn my dream into a living reality. I hope that if you have gleaned anything from this blog it is that I am honest and open.

I have found all those connected with Bute Park, both working there daily and assisting in the careful and considered restoration, to be professional, passionate, intelligent, considered, leaders and doers. You will not find people more concerned with the welfare of the park itself, for the benefit of the users now and for those of the future. This is not some faceless bureaucracy, but a live and exciting family who have gone over and above their work remit donating hours upon hours of their own time to breathe life into community projects they help create and believe in.

If you have been to the Park recently hopefully you will have experienced this yourself too, if not Spring is a perfect time to visit and you should definitely go and see the new Education Centre!

I turned to this family for inspiration for a name to bestow on this new use for an historic building opening its doors for the first time to the public. My own ideas along with those from the custodians of the Park have been at the forefront of my mind for weeks.

Giving Birth

I have heard that deciding a name for your child can be difficult.
Do you wait until after the birth, look at your child, live with it, try and understand its personality?
Do you even know someone who was born without a name?

I believe that the greatest compliment for naming may be to inherit a family name or to bestow a title upon the next generation that has great personal resonance. With this in mind a wonderful name soon came to mind along with a superb opportunity to inform and educate today's park visitors about its history.

The Pettigrew Family

Many people know the Title of 'Marquess of Bute' and many people know the famous architect of Cardiff Castle, William Burges, but arguably less popularly well known for his contribution to Bute Park is Mr Andrew Pettigrew.

Andrew Pettigrew and his three sons William Wallace (‘WW'), Hugh and Andrew Alexander (‘AA') all contributed to a legacy of public owned gardens and parkland in Cardiff that is second to none in the UK.

Andrew Pettigrew (1833-1903) was Head Gardener to the Marquess of Bute at Cardiff Castle between 1873 and 1903. Originally from Ayrshire, he and his family moved to Cardiff from Dumfries House in Ayr, another Bute property, to work with the Third Marquess of Bute and William Burges on the layout of the Castle Grounds at Cardiff (re-named Bute Park in 1947 when it was gifted to the city along with the Castle and Sophia Gardens by the fifth Marquess of Bute).

The Marquess, who also came from Scotland, made all his money by sending coal and iron from the South Wales Valleys all around the world. What we now know as Cardiff was then a collection of small villages before the Marquess created a busy port, where hundreds of ships sailed every day. Cardiff became the largest coal exporting port in the world.

Many people came to live in Cardiff and it soon became a large city, but many of them lived in crowded houses with poor facilities and no gardens or space to relax and play in. The city needed parks and gardens.

So the Marquess and other Cardiff landowners gave land to the people of the city, so that they could have pleasant places to walk, to sit and listen to bands playing, to play or to watch sport such as bowls and cricket.

Introducing 'Pettigrew Tea Rooms'

In homage to his superb work in developing Bute Park into the recognisable space that thousands of visitors enjoy today, I feel it is appropriate to commemorate Mr Andrew Pettigrew's work by naming this business 'Pettigrew Tea Rooms'. I am passionate about sharing the history of this man, his family and the lasting legacy of their work with new and future generations visiting Bute Park and Arboretum.

Now for your say...

I have maintained from the start of this project that you would be involved. I value your thoughts and opinions. So now I turn over to you lovely people one of the biggest decisions I face. This is a traditional Tea Rooms and the Logo will be in pride of place on the menus, website and throughout. Please make your choice wisely.

Option a.)

Option B.)

Option C.)

Place Your Vote...

Public OpinionPoll Results

P.s. constructive criticism is great and always welcome, but if you don't have anything nice to say, then come and sit next to me.

Pettigrew Tea Rooms - Bi-Lingual Website Under Construction Coming Soon

Thank you. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates and maybe maybe maybe a competition some time soon...

David

A Tearoom Without Cake...

...is like a year without Summer

December 2011

This is my farewell to 2011. I am sure you will be relieved to hear that this is not a sentimental round up of the year that's been. Instead I am striking at the very heart of any good Tea Room and talking today about Cake.

Cake Dreams

I am opening a tea room next year in Cardiff, South Wales. This is now a statement of fact. Whether it be in one venue or another remains to be seen [venue news FINALLY coming around January 14th 2012].

My earliest memories of a traditional British Tea Room begin and end with the cakes, bakes and delicious home makes. In our World where we now try to move away from excess and live within our means, this may upset you. If you feel so inclined please now imagine that I am a Bootmaker and my trade means a fantastic shop window filled with every kind of mouthwatering shoe you can imagine.

The Dark Arts - Cake-Craft

There is a magic to creating something that not everyone can do. I meet two kinds of people in this World; those who say they can bake and those who are adamant that they cannot. It is us in the baking fraternity with our private language of genoise, folding and multiple spelling of Macaron that are perceived as magicians to the Muggles.

Baking is an art, a science an evolved and evolving tradition. From simple to ornate, visually pleasing or a bit rough round the edges the output is the same. That is a consumable experience to excite the Human senses made by hand with passion, knowledge and importantly with love. Well gosh, there it is, that last sentence sums up my feelings on cake and hopefully expresses to you what I mean when I say that the art of quality home baking will be at the very heart of my Cardiff Tea Room.

A Little Announcement

If you live in South Wales, have nodded your headed while reading the above and are interested in a baking adventure like the one I have described, drop me a line HERE. I will be looking to take on a baker to help us create our wonderful home bakes and will be auditioning in January/February 2012. If you know of someone who may be interested then send them this blog post and ask them to get in touch with me.

So, I leave with you for 2011 with some Cake Quotes

Please give your favourite a little Tweet if you are so inclined...

A compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes he has the biggest piece.

Ludwig Erhard - via @want2bakefree

A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges.

Benjamin Franklin - via @want2bakefree

A lot of movies are about life, mine are like a slice of cake.

Alfred Hitchcock - via @want2bakefree

A page of my journal is like a cake of portable soup. A little may be diffused into a considerable portion.

James Boswell - via @want2bakefree

All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much.

George Harrison - via @want2bakefree

Always give them the old fire, even when you feel like a squashed cake.

Ethel Merman - via @want2bakefree

Merry Christmas and a very very Happy 2012 

to you and your loved ones

David x

Tea to WI For

November 2011

The Great Tea Taste Test - First and Foremost a Tea Room

At the point of conception, the idea for this business was the the combination of tea and cake. This is a very simple and very crucial point. As you read this and follow my journey around all the nitty gritty in setting up a business, it will all be for naught if you and I cannot sit around a table in March next year and enjoy a hot cup of your favourite tea with a stunning slice of fabulous cake. [Yes I am that deluded that I still believe I will have time to sit around and take tea at leisure, where as in reality I will be doing my headless chicken impression]

Tea is a ritual that for many of us forms part of our daily routine. From a traditional 'Breakfast Blend' to a fine 'Oolong' and taking in those great herbal infusions; we know what we like and how we like it served. As with the search to find a coffee supplier that I wrote about HERE, I need to trust a supplier who has done the leg work in sourcing the finest selections of teas and can bring the World to my door to share the best with you.

Coffee Controversy - A Matter of Taste and Trust

November 2011

The Man from Del Monte, was from Bolton

Today I want to share with you how I am sourcing suppliers. I have given a lot of thought as to how I want to do business and who I should partner with. I don't believe that you have to travel around the World to personally inspect suppliers unless you actually are the man from Del Monte. As I do not have a panama hat or white suit I have decided to find suppliers who can do the job for me. The people that I am dealing with work very hard to source their ingredients from the best suppliers, for me they must also be...

• Passionate about their product
• Trustworthy and ethical
• Strive for the very best quality
• Reliable and sustainable

If the man from Del Monte can say yes, to the above then that's the decision made.

Ethics - The Results!

October 2011

Not all of this starting your own business lark is a barrel of laughs. But the majority is!

I make the choices, I have written about how hard it can be to make an informed choice and the fear of committing to a course of action. At some point though, decisions have to be made to get the business going.

My last post touched on the importance of ingredients, quality and delivery as I was mulling over the ethical considerations. I am delighted to share with you the results of my 7 question survey [if you haven't taken it yet click HERE].

The Survey

How important are the following when visiting a tearoom/coffee shop?

1.) Price

Price is important but for many people it is the overall visitor experience that counts and price is just one consideration in that.

How to be Ethical in Business

October 2011


I need you. One of the big challenges in starting this venture is decision making. It is like taking a journey and knowing the destination that you want, but not knowing if the path you pick will take you anywhere near. One of the big decisions from the outset is reconciling what you care about, what I care about and what is commercially viable; in other words business ethics.

So this post is a musing on all things ethical in business, DON'T tune out! I need your input. I promise you a little discussion, a space disaster and some questions to get your thoughts flowing.

What You Care About

Over the past five years I have made changes in the way that I shop. Telling you this isn’t intended to show off about how super I am, I am not. I know that I could do an awful lot more. I noticed myself becoming paralysed into not changing my shopping habits because our awareness has become cluttered with causes and campaigns. For instance I try to buy ‘happy’ chickens, free range eggs, fruit and vegetables that haven’t flown further than I have that week. We tend to pick a cause so that we can put a mental tick in the box saying that we are doing our part. Outside of our shopping habits, this may be a donation of money or time to charity, any way that you live to reinforce your ethical beliefs.

Bake the Menu - Video Blog

September 2011


Early in a start up business you need to decide what to deliver to your customers and the most cost effective way to do that. This decision making process is crucial and must take into account, consistency of delivery, quality and pricing to name but a few. I will deliver a high quality product in a comfortable and classically vintage tea room.

There are three excellent reasons to 'Bake the Menu'. Firstly for quality control; to ensure that menu items are of the best quality and recipes can be tweaked where necessary. Sadly this also means that i'll have to eat the menu too. Secondly I need to work out the exact costings of each menu item, to set a fair price and identify the cost of sale for each menu item. The third reason to 'Bake the Menu' is so that I can keep a video log to update the website with all the mouth watering and delicious home baking that my tea room will serve.

My rules for this film series are simple and I will guarantee you the following:

• Films will be kept short and snappy
• I'll highlight our favourite tips
• Everything is 100% home made where practical 
• We always wash our hands!
• Recipes are available on request, unless they're family secrets

In return:

• If you have something to say, post it on the blog or subscribe to my Channel on Youtube
• If you have some of your own top tips, then let us know
• Get involved & be inspired

Without further ado I bring you Volume One...

ALL VIDEOS AND GALLEY CAN BE FOUND IN MY GALLERY HERE

Bring Back Don't Ask Don't Tell

September 2011


Project X - Venue 2012 How it Happened and Some More Hints

Welcome to all my new readers as well as you regulars. After last weeks lightning bolt revelation that I may have found a venue for my tea room, which is available in Spring 2012, I feel it is only fair to give you some background. I will intentionally remain cryptic because this venue is SO very good I cannot risk someone else swooping in and gazumping me. When I reveal all on the 1st December take a look back through these words and reminisce but for now as long as you don't ask I won't be tempted to tell all. On with the story...

March 2011


Saturday nights in your late twenties onwards seem to revolve more around either being away at weddings, birthdays, christenings, other social occasions or at home having an early night so that you can enjoy the perfect Sunday. So a night out to a bar in central Cardiff on a Saturday is certainly not the norm for me. A very fabulous friend who writes a very fabulous blog, moved away from Cardiff earlier this year. To see her off we had a party! It was one of those weekends where events collide; most importantly my very dear school time friend was due to visit from Exeter. After a little cajoling my partner and I convinced her that she really did want to go to a Lesbian farewell party in Cardiff on Saturday night. Fortunately for me neither the X-Factor or Strictly Come Dancing had started on the telly yet!

It is important to give you an insight into my frame of mind at the time. Almost every person in my life, both personally and professionally has some idea that I was planning on starting a business opening in Spring 2011. As I make no secret of this fact, indeed I am actually promoting the journey right here, so I certainly cannot complain when every person I meet asks how it is going and more importantly why I am not open yet. The novelty of the introduction “Oh my Gosh, Dave is starting a tea room…” wears a little thin, even when you are as passionate about your project as I am. Having had a few knock backs this year in March I was still struggling to be enthusiastic 24/7 particularly when you don't have much news to update with.

One of my traits as a sales person is the need to tell a story in detail leading to a poignant climax. When people ask about the tea room, I usually base how much detail to go into by judging how interested they appear. On Saturday 5^th March 2011 I wasn’t up for going into much detail particularly as the majority of guests were strangers. One of the guests at the party was particularly interested in the tea room and so myself, my partner and my best mate ended up chatting through the Tea Room saga from the initial decision right through to the loss of the Coach House a few weeks earlier. It is always nice to meet someone who seems genuinely interested in finding out about my project and, despite my negative frame of mind, it was a really lovely evening discussing the stresses of being back to square with my venue search.

Out of the Blue

I didn’t think anything else about that evening as I trundled off to Brighton the next day; into week two of my corporate filler job. Tuesday morning that week I received a call from my other half telling me to check my Facebook private messages of all things and there it was. On Tuesday 8^th March 2011, about 10 minutes before I was due to meet a very important client in my new job as Director of Sales, I had this message…

“Dave!!! Great News! ... has got a potential place for your tea shop!! In the ... , it’s being refurbished so you wouldn’t have to pay for that and they might want a traditional tea room!! Call me if you’re interested” Megan

Back in the Game

It isn’t in my nature to be mysterious however over the coming months I am going to be a bit shy with information. The reason for this is simple: this unit is not in the bag yet. In fact I won’t know if I have it until about the 23^rd December 2011. I am entering a process that is competitive and for that reason I have decided to keep quiet about some of the details. Because I am actually dying to tell the World about how much I love this option I have decided that it should be safe to go public on Thursday 1^st December 2011. On that date I will reveal all. The site is being developed in the coming months and I intend to record this transformation in several formats, including photos and video. This serves the purpose of documenting the process and, if I am successful as I pray I am, will serve as a great way to look back in a years time and recall the struggle.

Next Time

As 2011 is rushing past at a pace, it is time to start turning my attention to all the fabulously exciting jobs yet to do. Including researching suppliers, procurement, writing the menus and most importantly Baking the Menu! Stay tuned for updates and if you are a potential supplier or can recommend one drop me a line. You can expect new images soon in the gallery along with my very own Youtube channel coming soon!

AAA Business Rating - A View, A Brew, A Loo

and An Exciting Update Too



February 2011 – Today (September 2011)



This blog post is rather exciting for me as it finally brings you up to date with where my tea room plans are at right now! From writing my first entry well over a year ago it has taken me this long to fill you in on the trials and tribulations of the past 18 months. I am now inching closer to achieving my dream and this blog paves the way for the radical news that I may have found the venue of my dreams.
This is bittersweet news for you as I need to remain rather cryptic about the details, but read on and in the coming weeks I promise it will become clear.

NOTE: Later today I will add a timeline which will provide a chronology of the journey so far and some key upcoming dates, including my new target opening date! UPDATED Timeline is HERE

February 2011


When you set up a business you find that people want to give you advice, after all your friends and loved ones usually like to be helpful. We all like to impart knowledge and we all have exciting ideas that we just love to share. Don’t worry this is not going to be a rant about how well-meaning folk stick their noses in to your business, as I learnt a long time ago to listen carefully to advice. Surprising information can come from sources you never thought likely to help. It is the helpful sayings and clichés that I particularly love and the best that I have heard relating to what makes a successful attraction for tourism came from a chap working for Visit Britain;

“The goal is to get people to spend their time and money with you’; their needs are few, a view, a brew and a loo.“ Visit Britain



This may seem a little coarse but the sentiment is truthful; to fulfil the basic Human needs, both spiritual and physical. Our spiritual needs are personal and subjective, however our physical needs are simple and yet so easy to get wrong. Many of my friends myself included will, regardless of how good a venue is, site the condition of the water closet as the make or break for a positive review. Suffice to say to find the perfect tea room venue this is stella advice.

How Starbucks make the Bigbucks

November 2010 - January 2011

This post is about working for Starbucks, judging them, learning to love coffee and working out to what extent I need coffee to have a successful tea room business in 2011/12. Here is the next instalment in my journey.

The chances are that you are reading this segment of my tea room journey, while drinking a lovely hot beverage. I can confidently make this statement because 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed every day and with the Worlds population currently estimated at 6.94 billion, that's a lot of coffee!*. As I haven't drunk my quota for the past decade and quite a few people on the globe don't own kettles I feel quite confident that you people out there must be guzzling coffee all day.

Coffee to me is a mystery. Like many people who work in offices I started drinking coffee because everyone else did and it was part of my induction alongside how to operate the photocopier. Unlike most people though my day became shaped by the effects of my morning cuppa, which looked something like this;

9am (9.15am ish) - Arrive at desk log on, emails etc
9.30am - Morning Coffee
11am - Caffeine driven productivity madness ensues
1pm - Lunch
2pm - Afternoon energy crash begins
3pm - Dangerously bored and sleepy now, best to just have another coffee
4pm - Caffeine mania returns productivity goes through the roof
5pm - Final end of day crash, the last 30 minutes drag...
6pm - Pass out

Suffice to say that I stopped drinking coffee in 2006, no real surprise that this is also the year that my career really started moving forward at a pace.

Diary Excerpt–The Birth and Death of the Old Coach House Tea Rooms

August 2010 – January 2011

August 2010
27th August 2010 – Business in Focus Advice
“Today I met with Jane Way at her offices in Cardiff Bay. Amongst several of the things that we discussed were how to go about finding the perfect venue for my new business. I have quite a specific idea in my head for what sort of shop I want for my tea room, this is based on good places I have been to in the past and also what shops I think are in Cardiff in areas that I think will work. 
For my first tea room and indeed my first business, I have decided to rent a property to minimise the risk involved and also keep my start up costs down. I figure that a good street facing unit on a busy shopping street area is the way to go. With this in mind I am targeting Wellfield Road, Albany Road, Roath, Pontcanna, Penarth, Whitchurch Village, Llandaff Village, Cyn Coed and Cardiff City Centre to start with. 
I will need A3 planning consent to operate my tea room, however getting this kind of planning consent where it does not already exist is really tough. It turns out that in the recent past Cardiff has been very free with handing out A3 consent, so takeaway outlets and restaurants have popped up all over the city. As a result Cardiff has now developed the opposite attitude and won’t hand out A3 easily. Scarily Jane also pointed out that it could take over a year to find a venue, she has had some clients where it has taken several years to find the right place…”
Tuesday 31st August – First Impressions of a Seemingly Expensive Property
“There are so few commercial properties listed on the internet in Cardiff that aren’t huge warehouses. It is really frustrating especially as it is now so easy to find residential properties online through third parties. I am stuck with www.findaproperty.com and www.primelocation.com neither of which have very much choice for my narrowed down search. From looking around so far properties of the size and in areas that I like range from £10,000 to £50,000 per annum.  I have budgeted in the region of £15-£20,000.
Mike has seen a property near Sophia Gardens which is pretty close to Cardiff City, however it is over my rent threshold and is one of the first properties i have found.”

To a Mouse ... about that weekly update ...

April 2011

For the more observant of you, my last post was 263 days ago.

No Excuses

I certainly remember feeling, as I was composing my introduction to this story, that it was something best communicated live as a weekly Blog and despite the effort involved that this was indeed an interesting enough life gamble which merited documentation in my own bungling, bumbling, this, that and the other way.

I did not however write my story weekly. Looking back I can not think of an excuse although I do have an explanation for why I missed the first week. Upon finishing the introduction and hitting PUBLISH POST, I realised that in telling you what I was going to do I also risked telling my employer my plans before time.

After flamboyantly venting my intentions in a blog I had a vision of my story going a bit too public a bit too quickly (See http://goo.gl/fattr). It was then very easy to not write, with the thought in the back of my thinking space **blog? yes very important, must prioritise this, no wait, time not right, besides time better spent writing business plan/eating/sleeping/distracted ooh a pretty flower**. Missing week 2 meant missing week 3 and I could go on, but promised not to, you get the picture?

Somewhere in the Middle - Part One

The Dramatic Arc

Like all stories you have an introduction, conflict and resolution. This is a simple story being written in real time. Today is the introduction, to come is the conflict and fingers crossed for the rest...

For my sanity and yours, here are some intro facts; last time I wrote any kind of story was over 12 years ago, I have done no research into writing methods. This will be spell checked, read once then published so if you spot any SPAG errors turn your rage inwards and keep it. For my part I will keep to short sharp points (where possible) to keep it brief and punchy, with at least weekly updates. This is an open forum so comment away I won't edit you if you don't edit me!

Well back to basics, introduction.

Working Life

My name is David, at this moment I work in Sales for a four star International Hotel chain. This decade I cultivated approximately £30K of debt split evenly between the Student Loans company and various high street bankers in the pursuit of a degree. In completing my wonderfully expensive degree I worked in a Cardiff hotel moving steadily then quickly through the business to where I am now working for head office. Tough work during a recession, but rewarding in a lot of ways. The debt is gone, my name is known in the industry and by boss is generally pleased. However and here it comes, I have an amazing life outside when you take the work part out, this isn't a forum for that, but it kicks off my new story. The work life scales tip both ways, currently they are out of kilter, but I know the old saying work hard play hard. So keep your head down, bring in the cash, and push on with the career.