Petworth tearoom’s hopes of offering drink at theme nights

Gemma Budd, who runs Tiffins Tearoom in High Street, said she had been often asked by customers for a drink with their food order and thought ‘why not?’.

She said: “I might do high teas in the afternoon, so you can book in a really nice high tea with champagne, between 3pm and 5pm, that sort of thing.

“I might do things once a month, say on a Friday night doing a theme night – Spanish night with sangria or Mexican night with Mexican beer and Mexican food, something a little bit different.”

The tearoom would remain a tearoom, she said, (‘I’m not running a pub’), but the hope was to create something fun for the town and a better offer for tourists as well as Petworth residents.

“I get people visiting, mostly foreign visitors, and they want an ale with their meal at dinner time and it would be nice to be able to offer it them,” she said.

“I’m going to keep it as local as I can, local ciders and that sort of thing.”

The hours advertised on the licensing application are from 8.30am to 10.30pm daily but Gemma has said there is ‘no way’ she will be using those hours all the time.

She had talked to the shop’s neighbours about holding the occasional event.

Anyone after a glass of wine late in the evening would be advised to go round the corner to the ‘excellent’ Angel Inn, she said.

“Whatever I do, I want to make it a theme and make it fun,” Gemma said.

“We’re quite quirky in here, I want to keep it that way.”