Growing up with a constant hunger pang in her belly, Angela Whyte describes her first visit to a vintage tea room as a “euphoric” experience.
With unemployment in Scotland doubling in the second half of the 1970s and food scarce, times were tough for families like Angela’s living in Fraserburgh at the time.
Overriding Angela’s recollection of hardship though is a happier childhood memory of the time her beloved grandmother – “nunnie” – took her to a vintage tea room for the first time.
“With me always being hungry my nunnie (Agnes) actually said to me, ‘you can have as much as you want,'” says Angela.
“Having all the lovely cakes and tea in a China cup was a feeling of just total euphoria.
“Back when we were brought up it was hard times so you savour the good memories.”
Four decades on and Angela is sharing that feeling of euphoria in her hometown after opening up Mrs Whyte’s, her pretty pink tea room in Frithside Street.
From old school treats like apple pie and crumble with custard and strawberry fluff – a carnation milk and jelly concoction – to vintage cups and 1920s music, the tea room brings a delicious taste of nostalgia to the town.
Society caught up with Angela, a salt of the earth mum of seven – for a sweet trip down memory lane.
What inspired you to open your tea room?
Well back in the 1970s, times were really tough and food was really scarce. My dad was out of work and my mum had eight children so I recall my childhood with being hungry. But one day my nunnie, my grandmother, took me to a vintage tea room in Aberdeen.
I remember it had dark wood and 1920s music was playing. Then a lady wearing an old fashioned vintage uniform came over to a table with a cake stand full of amazing cakes. My nunnie said to me “you can have as many cakes as you want”.
I just remember a feeling of just total euphoria, it’s a wonderful memory that I’ll always savour. Since then I’ve wanted to open my own tea room. After leaving school I brought up my family before working as a carer and a cleaner.
But two years ago, during a trip to Blackpool with my husband Richard, I visited all these vintage tea rooms and I said to Richard “I want to open a tea room”.
When did you open your doors?
We opened on 9th May this year. We transformed what was a dingy space into a vintage pink tea room full of upcycled furniture and pictures of old film stars. I also have a pink bike parked up outside – I made the tea room pink because it’s a happy colour and my home is also pink and fluffy.
As well as the pink decor people also love the vintage China tea cups and saucers. What’s lovely is that people in the community actually donate vintage things for me to use in the tea room which is lovely.
We’ve heard your cakes are in a league of their own?
Yes, my daughter-in-law Mharie makes all the modern cakes like the blondies and Biscoff millionaires shortbread.
I’m more old fashioned so I make all the old school cakes like ginger sponge with the white icing, carrot cake, butterfly fairy cakes, mint chocolate cupcakes, lemon drizzle, pineapple upside down cake and Victoria sponges.
I also make a strawberry fluff which was something we used to get at school. It’s made using jelly and carnation milk so it tastes like Angel Delight.
I also make little individual apple crumbles and pots of custard. I also make mini eve’s puddings with custard – basically anything that is old fashioned.
Your scones are legendary, aren’t they?
Yes, I have a following of certain people who come just for my scones. I do every kind of scone imaginable like cheese and chive, cheese and bacon, raspberry and white chocolate chip, rhubarb and cinnamon, rhubarb and ginger, apple scones, blueberry scones and strawberry scones.
Basically anything you can add to a scone we’ll put it in there. People who come through from Aberdeen tell me they’re the best scones they’ve ever tasted. I use my grannie Alexina’s recipe, she was a gypsy and she made the best scones.
Tell us about your afternoon tea?
We’ve only just started on a Monday and a Thursday and we’re booked out because the place is little. People will get homemade sausage rolls, four finger sandwiches, a scone, a pancake and whatever cakes we’ve got in the cake display, we chop them up into little pieces and give them little tasters.
There’s always a strawberry tart/strawberry meringue and we dip some strawberries in chocolate. We also serve a glass of strawberry fluff and a mini apple crumble and custard and a mini sticky toffee and custard. I just love to feed people.
What other food to you have?
I’m trying to stick to food that you would’ve got in the early 1900s. So I make all my own meat pies as everybody back then had a meat pie. So I’ll do the steak, the chicken, the mince – I get my meat from L&D Allan in West Road, Fraserburgh.
I’ve seen travelling for 35 miles to get some of my pies. I also make sausage rolls, homemade soups and my husband makes the Cullen Skink on Saturdays.
We also do bacon rolls, egg rolls and sausages in a bun. We also have sandwiches and sometimes we’ll have a corned beef sandwich, people love a corned beef sandwich.
Lately we’ve put on some hot dogs in buns, we do a lot of baked tatties with a lot of fillings like the egg and the tuna, cheese. We have done corned, beef, hash and oatcakes as a special.
What’s your plans for the future?
We’re going to be creating a private function space upstairs.
I’m a big Peaky Blinders fan so I’m going to create a replica of the Garrison Pub which is famous in the BBC programme.
We’re also going to open a takeaway from 11pm to 3am to catch the pub trade.
Mrs Whyte’s is more than a tea room isn’t it?
Yes me and Tracy, who works in the cafe, could be the only two people that some people speak to in a week. A woman who visits recently lost her husband and she’s bereft. She says that since she found us it’s really helped her.
We sit and ask her questions about her husband as she likes to talk about him. You see her face light up because she doesn’t want to stop speaking about him. There’s also a lady who comes in who’s 99. She loves it as it’s like going down memory lane.
For more information about Mrs Whyte’s check out their Facebook page.
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