Willow Tea Rooms is branching out into Watt Brothers

The Willow Tea Rooms are opening a tea room in the iconic Watt Brothers department store on Sauchiehall Street this summer!

Article Source: Willow Tea Rooms
Last Updated: 28 June 2016 9:05

Two Glasgow institutions and family businesses are being brought together with the Willow Tea Rooms opening a tea room in the iconic Watt Brothers department store, 119 Sauchiehall Street this summer.

The third floor space in Watt Brothers will be fully refurbished by the Willow Tea Rooms owner Anne Mulhern. Plans are in place to open up two walls of windows in the room and reinstate the original 100 year old finishes that have been hidden for many years. Mackintosh fans will be delighted to hear that the tea room interiors will be recreated with the same lighting, furniture, finishes and feel as the original tea rooms at 217 Sauchiehall Street.

Returning visitors will recognise the established table service from Willow staff in their traditional dresses. The menu will be available all day, every day, serving breakfast, morning coffee, lunches, afternoon teas and home baked cakes and scones.

The move follows the announcement that the original building, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh for Miss Kate Cranston in 1901, will close on 22nd June 2016 for a 2-year refurbishment. The refurbishment will include essential repairs to the property, ensuring it is wind and watertight.

The Willow Tea Rooms owner Anne Mulhern, who transformed the tea rooms back to their original use in 1983 after the building had been used as a retail unit, commented:

“We are so thrilled to be opening up in Watt Brothers. It’s a Glasgow institution and a family run business, so it is a great fit for us. When we found out that the repairs to our existing building meant that we would have to close for two years, we were devastated. We still have the Willow Tea Rooms in Buchanan Street but were keen to open near Sauchiehall Street and secure the jobs of our fantastic staff. It’s great that we can remain open with the same staff, same menu, same interiors and same great waitress service - just a few blocks down the street. It means our valued customers don’t need to go too far to our new premises at Watt Brothers and the store’s customers now have a tea room they can enjoy when they are shopping.”

Serving Glasgow for more than 100 years, Watt Brothers opened up as a family business in 1915 and still continues to be run by the family today. The business moved from small West End premises into the iconic store on the corner of Sauchiehall Street and Hope Street. The business then traded in an age when department stores were designed as places where customers could revel in an atmosphere of luxury. Ladies’ fashions were the company’s staple products – and its customers flocked to the store for the latest designs in everything from lingerie to ball gowns.
In an era when Glasgow housed no fewer than 40 department stores, 13 of them were located on Sauchiehall Street so competition for attracting customers was fierce. Big-name stores such as Pettigrew and Stephens, Copeland and Lye, Daly’s and Henderson’s competed with Watt Brothers on the prime retail location of Sauchiehall Street. Only Watt Brothers remains in business today. Willie Watt, great grandson of the founder become managing director in 1993 and has been responsible for the expansion of the business which now has 10 stores and plans are in the pipeline to open additional stores with number 11 scheduled later this year for Port Glasgow.

Willie Watt, managing director of Watt Brothers, commented: “Over the years as a business we’ve introduced many, innovative changes to our business and this development heralds our recognition that we must generate fresh and new reasons for people to visit us.

“We are a company proud of its history and we’re particularly pleased to be working with Anne and her team in including a high-quality, prestige tea room which will complement both our business and the Willow Team Rooms’ business which pays tribute to one of our city’s great architects.
“What could be more appealing for shoppers than a stop-off in our store where they can enjoy a cuppa and some fine food?”