Last week we had a couple of days away over in the west of Scotland, and on one of the days we took the train to Glasgow, something that Jack used to do on a daily basis and I did at least once a week, it was a bit of a nostalgia trip, despite the trains being completely different. Anyway, we were aiming for The Willow Tea Rooms in Sauchiehall Street. They were designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, they had been fairly recently refurbished, and have now been taken over by the National Trust for Scotland.
As you can see from the photo below, the pedestrianised area of the street is having work done on it at the moment, the whole place is a mess and as usual there didn’t seem to be any actual work going on, you have to be quite determined to reach the tea room!
We were sitting right at the window but as you can see from the photo below they have it screened by curtains so you don’t see people going past, and they can’t see in. It was a very busy Friday lunchtime so the place was packed downstairs, but the food was good.
The staff must be well used to people going around taking photos of the decor, as nobody batted an eyelid when Jack did that. I love the details, Mackintosh was quick to give his wife Margaret Macdonald the credit for designing and working many of the textiles that feature in ‘his’ work
In the 1970s and 80s the tea rooom was shut and it was being used by Carrick the jewellery shop. They specialised in silver jewellery which was inspired by Mackintosh’s designs. It was more successful than many others and nowadays you can still buy some of the jewellery on Ebay and in ‘antique’ shops. There is an awful lot of ‘Mockintosh’ stuff around though which isn’t so pleasing to the eye – or my eye anyway.
Have you ever been in a tea room which actually had a bell on the table to summon assistance? Everyone was very attentive so they weren’t really necessary. Mind you I didn’t hear one actually being used!
The photos above and below are of the second floor room which wasn’t being used at the time, it’s a sort of gallery and you can look down to the ground floor from there. There is another floor above that one which I suspect is used for special occasions like weddings – maybe.
Anyway, this visit was something that we had been planning to do for ages, then along came Covid and it was postponed yet again. We’ll go back for another visit sometime, the desserts were delicious!
When I saw the willow pattern cups and saucers in last two of your photos, I assumed that the tea room took its name from the pattern. Wikipedia informs me, however, that the name comes from the street on which the tea room stands.
Would the changes you noticed in trains have something to do with privatization? I left the UK long before that happened, but not before the Beeching cuts destroyed the network of local lines. The modern trains I see in films and TV series are very different from those I remember. Very smart and stylish, with unfamiliar livery.
Janusz,
Yes ‘sauchie’ means place of the willows in Gaelic, and Glasgow means dear green place. But I always think of Glasgow as a lowland area, I suppose Gaelic was spoken there in the past.
The trains just seem very lightweight compared with the old ones, they are very modern and internally seemed more akin to a bus, but I believe they are very strong although lightweight. They rarely make that nice ‘bdum bdum’ noise as they go over the rail joints now. Are you living in Hungary now? I was only 6 or 7 when the Beeching cuts came along, they were a disaster for so many communities and small businesses who relied on the railways. When we moved down to the south of England for a few years in the late 1970s I was shocked to discover that they still used diesel trains and carriages from the 1930s, it was like being in an Agatha Christie series. I kept expecting Miss Marple to come through the sliding door from the corridor. In the west of Scotland we had modern electric trains in the 1960s.
I’m guessing that the quieter ride of modern trains has something to do with welded rails. There again, it could be improvements in suspension and sound insulation.
I remember the switch from steam to diesel, and not liking it one tiny bit. Those early diesel locomotives always struck me as excessively ugly, almost brutish
Hungary is a place I’ve never visited, not even in transit. Some day, perhaps.
Janusz,
Jack also remembers the transition from steam to diesel, it might even have been electric in the west of Scotland then. I agree about diesels, and Jack has always thought that steam trains were much more human somehow. I’ve only been on tourist steam trains, always great fun.
Ah, I’ve never been to Hungary either, it was the buda in your email address that confused me.