Information on Loughborough

GREAT CENTRAL RAILWAY OPENS NEW TEA ROOM

Posted on 09/06/2008

Opening of Ellis Tea Rooms at Rothley Station

Visitors to the Great Central Railway now have a new place to unwind, relax and enjoy some refreshments. At the award winning (and reportedly haunted) Rothley station, a derelict Victorian store shed has been fully restored

and converted into a quality tea room.

Meanwhile a new viewing area has been created at Rothley station near Loughborough allowing passengers to get right up close to historic steam engines as they run past. The new ‘grandstand’ and tea room are fully accessible to wheelchair users. There is also a landscaped garden railway as an additional attraction.

“We finished the job at the end of May but the new tea room has already proved popular” said GCR president Bill Ford. “The building itself isn’t listed, but as it falls inside the boundary of the station, which is, we’ve taken great care to make sure the restoration is up the highest standard. Best of all, it has full wheeled access, proper toilet and baby change facilities not to mention great food. It’s a great leap forward for what we can offer our visitors.”

The tea room has been called “Ellis’s” after the building it’s in. It was built in 1899, when the Great Central Railway was opened. Local firm Joseph Ellis and Sons Ltd. used it to store Corn and Coal, ready to be collected by wagons and sent around the country by train. The building fell out of use well before the GCR was preserved but has now been fully restored and carefully converted.

Former BBC TV presenter, Simon Groom formally cut the ribbon and declare Ellis’s open last week (Thursday 5th of June 2008). It cost seventy thousand pounds and took six months to repair and fit out the building. The money was raised by The David Clarke Railway Trust, the Great Central Railway’s supporting charity.

“We’re keen to improve our facilities right along the line,” concluded Bill. “We won the gold award for East Midlands visitor experience in 2007 but you can’t afford to stand still. We hope people who live in the area will make Ellis’s a new drop in point. You don’t have to buy a ticket to ride our train to visit – and after all, how many tea rooms come with a great view of steam engines, large and small, thrown in for the price of a coffee?!”

Ellis’s tea room is open six days a week, Saturday to Thursday, 10am to 4.30pm. It serves hot and cold drinks, homemade cakes, sandwiches, light lunches and ice creams. It also hosts party bookings. You can contact the tea room direct on ellis@gcrailway.co.uk or Loughborough (01509) 632343