A FAMOUS city team room is celebrating its 20th anniversary today.

 

The Willow Tea Rooms on Buchanan Street will mark the last two decades of serving Glasgow tea, cakes, scones and sandwiches with a special birthday party.

 

It is the second venue to be opened by Anne Mulhern, a life long fan of Kate Cranston - Glasgow’s most famous tea room owner.

 

She opened the shop 1997 directly opposite to the original Miss Cranston’s original Buchanan Street Tea Rooms.

 

As part of the 20th birthday celebrations, Anne will be re-launching some of the Willow’s best selling prooducts, holding competitions and talks.

 

Fans will also be given the chance to enjoy a meal an nineties prices, the same as when the tea rooms opened.

 

Anne said: “We are thrilled to be celebrating our 20th anniversary at 97 Buchanan Street.

 

“I am so proud that we’ve become a real part of Glasgow’s burgeoning tourism industry and love welcoming visitors from all over the world every year.

 

“We’ve constantly evolved to keep up with customer demand but we’ve also stuck to our traditions and visitors coming to our tea rooms will get their traditional tea, served in a pot with a jug of hot water, and see our fabulous Mackintosh-inspired interiors.

 

“We’ve got loads of great things coming up this year and it feels really exciting to be moving onto the next chapter – here’s to the next 20!”

 

The venue at 97 Buchanan Street is remodelled on Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s designs for the original Miss Cranston venue, with a replica White Dining Room and Chinese Blue Room.

 

The original white room was created by Mackintosh as part of his commission from Miss Cranston to redesign the entire room in her Ingram Street tea room.

 

Miss Cranston, born in 1847, opened a number of hugely successful Glasgow tea rooms and was an avid supporter of the Temperance movement - a social movement which was against alcohol set up in 1820.