Falmouth Nub News aims to be supportive of EVERY element of the community from business and shops to people and charities and clubs and sports organisations.

Everyone is finding it tough at the moment and is desperate to get back to normal.

We are profiling some of these local businesses and those groups regularly over coming weeks in a feature called UP CLOSE IN FALMOUTH in the hope that we can be a supportive springboard for their full return to business.

This week we talk to Angie Bayliss-Harrison Mundy, volunteer at The Four Teas Tearoom on Webber Street, Falmouth.

During an in-depth Q and A session, she reveals the origin of the tearoom, as well as the hardships she and owner Lynda Mundy have gone through since the pandemic to launch their new delivery service and get business back on track.

1. What made you set up your business in Falmouth and what, in particular, made you think your business would work in a place like Falmouth?

We have always had a passion for cooking and baking and Lyn and I complement each other's skills. Lyn is a qualified chef, she trained here in Cornwall before moving to Yorkshire when we met and adding further qualifications up there. My passion is baking and always has been. We have always wanted to have our own tea shop and when we inherited some money from my parents, we decided we now were able to realise our dream. Falmouth is Lyn's home town and we knew we had something unique to offer the town.

My father has always had an interest in WW2 and we also lost my Great Grandfather in Arras Northern France in 1917. Lyn has always been interested in rationing, WW2 food & recipes, and we both love this period in history, so it seemed inevitable that we would be drawn to do something like this in the town we love and are so proud of.

2. The Four Teas Tearoom is a very new business and it's a major change from antique trading, how has the jump over been? Are there any new hardships or positives?

It's not that different as with both we are selling a bit of history. Many of our vintage customers have wanted a place to eat and rest before continuing their rummaging through what we have to offer in our Vintage and Retro collection at Bygone Days Trading Co which trades from the same building. In fact, they have complemented each other really well. The real hardship has only come along since the outbreak of Covid-19, which completely closed Bygone Days and The Four-Teas Tearoom until quite recently. We have had to rely on online shopping for our vintage store, which needed to be developed further anyway which has allowed us to remain a presence in the vintage community.

We did not qualify for any Government grants on lockdown and unfortunately had to make our staff redundant but we really hope that we will be able to re-employ some of them when we are able to fully reopen as a Tearoom. The main positive coming from this is that we appeal to both sets of customers, from the little boy who comes in regularly to buy items from WW2 that interest him to the elderly who often are able to remember most of the items we sell in use when they were children. We, fortunately, appeal to a large percentage of the population.

3. In these strange times, it's obviously been difficult to launch a new tearoom - how has it been to create a new delivery service to combat lockdown?

It has been quite difficult to make the transfer to a takeaway as most of the concept of the Tearoom is the theatre of it with the ambience of the vintage tearoom and our vintage crockery but we are getting there. Our main issue has been getting the message out there that we are back ss a takeaway and that, even though our menu is really different, it is still of the great quality we usually serve.

We have had a slow but steady start this week and it has been lovely to work together with Tom at Abacus Taxis to provide a reasonable delivery service.

We have also had to change our opening times to Thursday - Saturday evenings 5pm-9pm as well as Sunday 12pm-4pm for our wonderful Roast in A Box as well as our Afternoon Teas which are always a winner. From next week we hope to have a great ordering & delivery platform ready to make ordering so much easier for our customers.4. Our customer base comes from all age groups but especially our locals who we love to see on a regular basis. We were really looking forward to welcoming our tourist trade for the first time this Summer which has obviously delayed. We have good trade with both communities and we feel they compliment each other very well.

4. As well as the other cafe competition there are the very well situated deliveries and takeaways, Kebab on the Corner, Subway and BLT in Falmouth and Penryn - how do you compete with these?

We don't see ourselves as competition for other tearooms but complementing them as our brand is very particular which no one else offers in the Falmouth area. As for the bigger companies, we are very different as we are a small family business currently running on minimum staffing, which means we cannot compete with the bigger players but what we do offer is a great quality small and varied menu with plenty of fish options and also our signature dishes adapted into a new menu. All our products are locally sourced and all our meals & bakery are freshly made on the premises daily to order.

5. How do you spend your spare time away from the business? Do you have time for other interests?

We like to spend our spare time doing quite different things. Lyn enjoys researching WW2 packaging and recipes as well as her interest in Astronomy and DIY with design. But due to my disabilities, I tend to spend my spare time with friends or reading as I am having to let Lyn take over my passion for baking, which is too difficult to do now. What I enjoy about volunteering my time to the business is the wonderfully varied people we meet and I love talking about their past and their memories, especially around WW2.

6. What do you like about Falmouth and the area?

What don't we love about Falmouth? It was the perfect place to come back to when I took early retirement as Lyn desperately wanted to come home, and I don't blame her. We love the scenery, the wonderful community and the relaxed pace of life. It's the only place in the world, other than my beloved Yorkshire, that I feel at home. Lyn just loves being home.

7. If you are transported to a Desert Island tomorrow and you have one item off your menu, what would you choose?

Lyn would like to take her salt & pepper squid because of the crispiness, spiciness and the sweetness with the accompanying sweet chilli jam. Mine would be the Cornish Rarebit Burger as the homemade rarebit is one of our best sellers on our tearoom menu. It's made with both Cornish cheese & Cornish Tribute ale.

8. Tell us the three vital qualities you think you need to succeed in business?

Three qualities would be vision, continuity of producing quality food and having a passion for what you produce as that's what our great customers deserve.