Bettys Café Tea Rooms

Ilkley is one of four towns in Yorkshire that has a 'Bettys Café Tea Rooms'. (The others are in York, Harrogate and Northallerton.) Bettys is a family business dating back to 1919, when a young Swiss confectioner called Frederick Belmont came to England, intending to open a café on the south coast. The story goes that he took the wrong train and ended up in Yorkshire but, liking it, he decided to stay. There is a mystery over who Betty was, with several possible explanations.

Bettys prides itself on its traditional menu and attention to detail. The waitresses all wear uniform with white lace-trimmed aprons. It is THE best place for Afternoon Tea, with a selection of small sandwiches and cakes served on pretty china, and a wide range of unusual and specialist teas to choose from. It's also a good place for a leisurely Sunday brunch with the newspapers. (It is rather an expensive treat but one that I sometimes consider myself worthy of!) You can also buy their delicious breads and cakes to take home with you. The Tea Rooms in Ilkley has a very attractive dining room, with the largest marquetry picture ever made - a medieval hunting scene called La Chasse, made in Alsace entirely of unstained wood veneers.

In my photo, reflected in the shop window, you can see the Ilkley bandstand in the park opposite. For other participants in 'Weekend Reflections', hosted by James at Newtown Area Photo, click this link.