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****EMBARGOED UNTIL NOON FRIDAY 21 APRIL 2006****

HAZELMERE CAFÉ & BAKERY NAMED AS UK’S TOP TEA PLACE

The UK Tea Council announces that Hazelmere Café & Bakery in Cumbria has scooped the Tea Guild’s coveted Top Afternoon Tea 2006 award.

Tea establishments from across the UK eagerly competed for the Top Afternoon Tea award in these Oscars of the tea world. In fact as the overall standard in this year’s competition was so high, The UK Tea Council has awarded special Awards of Excellence to 38 tea rooms around the country in recognition of their achievements.

The awards come at a time when the popularity of afternoon tea is growing rapidly, with a recent survey of London Tea Guild members showing how 80% had noticed a significant increase in demand for afternoon tea.

The Top Tea awards, run by The UK Tea Council’s Tea Guild, are in their 21st anniversary year. A team of dedicated mystery tea inspectors from The Tea Guild secretly visited tea venues and hotels across the UK to find the best afternoon tea experience, testing them on 17 criteria ranging from décor and crockery to the variety of teas available.

Hazelmere Café & Bakery in Grange-over-Sands in Cumbria will be crowned The Tea Guild's Top Tea Place 2006 this April. The owners, Dorothy and Ian Stubley, travel extensively overseas to buy their teas, and impressed Tea Guild inspectors by offering their customers a wonderful range of top quality teas which are brewed and served to perfection. They received top marks in all of the tea categories assessed, with one inspector concluding that the cup of tea they were served was “out of this world”. 

Irene Gorman comments: “Hazelmere Café & Bakery pride themselves on offering superb teas and excellent food, much of it using locally sourced ingredients and produced in their own bakery that adjoins the tea room.

“The popular, attractively decorated tea room offers a welcoming open fire in winter and the option of enjoying tea outside on the Victorian verandah in the summer months. The friendly and helpful staff extend a warm welcome to all their customers, including both locals and a large number of walkers which this famous area attracts.”

Irene Gorman adds “The Tea Guild awards highlight the ever-increasing popularity of afternoon tea. The quality of the whole afternoon tea experience - the teas and food offered, plus the service and the surroundings, is what helped this year’s winners to excel and evoke the judges’ highest praise.”

- ENDS -

Notes to editors

• The Tea Guild is part of The UK Tea Council which is a non-profit making, independent organisation dedicated to raising the profile of tea in the UK.

• 38 establishments around the UK will also receive Awards of Excellence – for a full list of for details of winners in your area please contact us.

• Previous winners of the Top Afternoon Tea award include Ollerton Watermill Tea Shop in Nottinghamshire (2005) & Bird on the Rock Tea Room in Shropshire (2004).

• The AA & Tea Council’s 'Britain's Best Afternoon Tea' guide is available from all good bookshops or online at tea.co.uk and bookshop and costs £9.99.

For more information or to request images please contact: Lucy Egerton on 020 7808 9737 or Lucy Lott on 020 7808 9743

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