News that the Castle Cottage Tea Room attached to Pevensey Castle is about to re-open, has excited interest right across the community.—Bay Life, 7 July 2016
The issue of the restoration of the fortunes of the iconic tea room has been a thorn in the side of the community for nine years.
English Heritage has been labelled a disgrace for the absence of communication about the issue by local commentators and the absence of a statement about what is to happen with the site, with business plans put to them that are known to have been ignored, has tested the patience of local people.
Key stakeholders have pointed to the situation that has become something more than an embarrassment to the community and the fact that the building, left to rot, currently looks like the lot of a Psycho 4 outtake from an unmade film.
The indignation of the community about a major national institution leaving a cornerstone building to rot in front of the eyes of the community and every visitor to Pevensey has on occasion spilled over into anger and condemnation.
The first point of contact that any visitor laden coach has with historic Pevensey is the derelict building. As visitors excitedly trip off the coach to see where ‘The Great British Story Began’, as the historian Michael Wood put it at the beginning of his seminal BBC2 series in 2012, they are faced by the sad and apparently unloved building.
It is such a lovely building, complete with veranda, set in a beautiful little garden.
Ex Chair of English Heritage, Baroness Kaye Andrews, who lives locally placed on public record her concerns. Ex-local MP Greg Barker also became involved publicly in the issue in trying to establish what was happening with the building.
In June last year Local Conservative District Councillor Dianne Dear (also publisher of Bay Life) said; ‘the situation is a disgrace, the fact that another three years have gone by since we all worked to see that attention was brought to the issue, has made matters worse’
“A precious asset has been left to rot, and I think English Heritage have only themselves to blame if local people have become cynical about their planning, intentions and statements about the matter”.
At the time we said that there is some bridge building to do here after a nine year absence of communication.
Who owns that rotting building next to the Castle, visitors asked and why has it been left in this state?
What kind of advert does this present as a first point of contact with historic Pevensey and nearly 2,000 years of precious history, we asked?
Stepping into the breach appears to be a company that is about to restore the fortunes of the Castle Cottage Tea Room.
A new website is online, saying that the Tea Room is coming soon, with some graphics and a splash of local history that has an element of authenticity.
This appears to be a promising start.
The website was registered on April 26 this year, suggesting that there is four months forward planning here in the process. The website appears to be registered to an individual in Australia which is somewhat curious.
The only record we have of an Australian dimension to the public profile of the community in the last few months that we can find, is a discussion during the debate over the EU Referendum that took place at the Priory Court Hotel in Pevensey, hosted by well regarded, Huw Merriman, MP for Pevensey.
From the floor the urgent need for an ‘Australian rules immigration system’ was voiced by a member of the audience, based on family experience. We understand the person concerned is a member of the family that co-owns the Priory Court Hotel.
Is the Australia connection a coincidence? Are we about to see the very savvy family at the Priory Court, who have done so much to bring positive visitor profile to the community, about to become involved on some basis with the restoration of the Castle Cottage Tea Room?
This my be the wrong deduction.
We did visit the Priory Court Hotel yesterday to find out a little more about what is happening and whether they had any news.
We were told that co-owner of the Priory Court, Peter Lowton was ‘exceedingly busy’ and too busy to see us, which of course did make us wonder a little more about what might be happening.
“Just tell him we love him” we said.
The work of his partner, Vicky and his own wok, in returning the Priory Court to business life has been an inspiration to Pevensey.
Fifteen years ago, those of us who were around at the time, vividly remember the sparking conversation from coach loads of people that came to Pevensey and tipped into the Castle Cottage Tea Rooms.
On a sunny afternoon in the gardens of the Castle Cottage Tea Rooms you could hear voices from Japan and Germany and from across the world, as people settled into a day visit to the Castle, the High Street, the Museum and Gaol House, with a decant to scones and tea in the tea room in the spirit of European union and internationalism that was a delight to see.
Nostalgia and false memory syndrome? Not at all. I can remember being there in the garden talking to a group of German students with their teacher one sunny Saturday afternoon.
The restoration of the Castle Cottage Tea Room has long been seen as one of the vital elements in the terrain of the community profile that is of fundamental importance here.
The possibility of the restoration happening this summer is likely to to be seen as a welcome cornerstone addition put back in the historic profile of the locality.
Assuming that we do not see the need to stamp passports at the forecourt of the tea rooms with an Australian style screening out of immigrants on the turnstile, in the manner of the classic comedy Stanley Holloway film, “Passport to Pimlico” (1948) then we appear to be off to a very good start.
The Castle Cottage Tea Room at Pevensey Castle coming back to life could be fabulous addition to community business life and of immeasurable value to the spirit of the community.
The news will be welcomed by residents. Visitors from across the world to the hidden jewel in the Crown of Sussex will be able, at last, once again, to see services to historic Pevensey Castle restored with somewhere to sit down and enjoy a cup of fine English tea as part of their journey of discovery into the heart of our local history.
We wait with interest for the bunting and launch, and the news, presumably soon got be publicly made available, about who has leased the building from English Heritage and whether what is being said on the new website that has appeared, is to be delivered.
For the record, the reference to the tea rooms in the locality (1939) and the reference to the relationship with charabancs is historically accurate on the website.
Dr. Simon Thurley, the ex chief Executive of English Heritage, would tell us that this is the case.
His work, which has included an analysis of the role of Shell, for example, in print and on film in the nineteen thirties and forties and the development of Stonehenge and other locations as ‘visitor destinations’ at the time is illuminating.
The poster that we see promoted on the new website for the Castle Cottage Tea Room for Pevensey is one of this series of iconic illustrations (often created anonymously by famous artists of the day and many sponsored by Shell) that Dr. Thurley, to his credit, did so much to bring back to the attention of the public and the heritage industry in this country.
The possibility that we are to see the rich heritage of this unique part of the country, recognised and respected by new owners of the Castle Cottage Tea Room in their new venture is to be welcomed. The venture has the hallmark of becoming a possible big success.
Presumably the new owners of the Castle Cottage Tea Room at Pevensey Castle, will come forward with a media release to promote their plans in the very near future.
Bay Life will follow this story as further details emerge.
http://www.castlecottagetearoom.com
IMAGE CREDIT: Castle Cottage Tea Room website
Simon Montgomery
editor, Bay Life
