FROM Kirsty Wark’s cheese and chive scones to Lorraine McIntosh’s granny’s Irish soda bread, a new recipe book from the owner of the Willow Tea Rooms gives you the chance to own a slice of the great Glasgow institution.

Since she opened the tearooms almost 35 years ago, Anne Mulhern and her team have baked more than a million cakes and brewed hundreds of thousands of gallons of tea.

READ MORE: The Willow Tea Rooms celebrate their first anniversary at Watt Brothers department store

But it’s only now that she has decided to tell her story – and share some of her favourite recipes – in print.

“It felt like the right time,” smiles Anne, 60, who lives in Glasgow’s west end with her husband David. The couple have two grown-up children, Robyn and Ryan.

“I’m really proud of the book. It’s been great fun to put together.”

Anne also called upon her famous friends to contribute recipes to the book.

Seumas MacInnes, legendary Glasgow restaurateur and Café Gandolfi owner; Deacon Blue singer Lorraine McIntosh; broadcaster Kirsty Wark; and Masterchef: The Professionals winner Gary McLean have all shared their favourites.

READ MORE: The Willow Tea Rooms celebrate their first anniversary at Watt Brothers department store

“Seumas and I share recipes all the time, so it made sense to ask him – and Kirsty and I are good friends and neighbours – she’s always telling me to bring meringues if I’m popping down,” smiles Anne.

The Willow Tea Rooms Recipe Book includes Anne’s story.

She grew up in Carntyne in the east end of Glasgow and left school at 15 to work in the stock room at Goldberg’s in the Merchant City before moving on to Wills cigarette factory.

She also worked shifts at Maestro’s, a club in the city, where she met her first husband Bobby, a DJ who was studying at Glasgow School of Art.

READ MORE: The Willow Tea Rooms celebrate their first anniversary at Watt Brothers department store

“Through Bobby and all the people I got to know at GSA, I developed a real love of Charles Rennie Mackintosh,” says Anne.

“Little did I know then what an influence Mackintosh would have over my future working life.”

Anne dreamt of opening a tea room, inspired by Kate Cranston, the legendary founder of four tearooms in the city, one of which was designed by Mackintosh.

“Growing up in Glasgow with my mum and gran, we would always go out shopping on a Saturday and then go for a cup of tea to Fraser’s, the department store,” she smiles.

READ MORE: The Willow Tea Rooms celebrate their first anniversary at Watt Brothers department store

“It was a ritual that I loved. Rose, one of the waitresses, was always the draw to Fraser’s. We’d sit at one of her tables and chat away to her. We also used to go to Treron’s, another department store with a tea room which was beside the McLellan Galleries on Sauchiehall Street. As a young girl, I must have been storing up all that information unconsciously, learning the importance of human relationships and customer service to the business of hospitality.”

She set her sights on her home town.

“I didn’t have big dreams of going anywhere else. I just wanted to be here,” she explains.

“Glaswegians have a real sense of ownership of their home town. And people who aren’t from Glasgow who come to live here end up falling in love with that attitude.

“I always wanted to stay here. I loved the buildings.”

The other big draw for Anne was Mackintosh.

“I wanted to bring a traditional tea toom to the city using Mackintosh and Kate Cranston as my inspiration,” she says.

Anne opened her tea room above Henderson’s the jewellers on Sauchiehall Street, on the site of one of Kate Cranston’s original tea rooms.

“It still had lots of the original fittings,” marvels Anne. “It was the glamour of the Mackintosh connection that made it the perfect fit for me.”

In 1997 Anne opened a second Willow Tea Rooms on Buchanan Street, next door to the site of another of Kate Cranston’s original tea rooms.

She was even asked to open a Willow Tea Rooms in Japan.

“We were approached by the Kozo Fukunaga family who ran a chain of restaurants,” explains Anne.

“Mr Fukunaga’s father had been awarded the licence to open Lipton tea rooms in Japan, and the second generation of the family saw the development of the Willow Tea rooms as a continuation of his legacy.

“It was something I thought about carefully – it was a fabulous chance to experience a completely different culture and embrace a real challenge.”

She adds: “But it was the wrong time for me – my children were young and it would have involved spending six months in Japan without them.

Anne used to do all the baking for the tea rooms herself – now she has a team to help her.

“As the business grew it was too big a job for one person,” she says. “We have a great team of bakers, with a real passion.

“The Great British Bake Off has had a huge impact and we find customers are more knowledgeable now.

“They recognise what’s in the cake cabinet more readily and know what they want, so we need to make sure they get it.”

Anne says it seems like “a lifetime ago” that she set out on her journey.

“When I was a young girl I had no idea where life would take me,” she says.

“When I started out, did I think I’d still be here, having this much fun, 35 years later? No, I really didn’t. I always said if I got fed up, I’d stop – and I never have.”