Bettys Tea Rooms, Harrogate

Bettys is such a Yorkshire institution, I couldn’t have stayed in Harrogate and not visited their original site. As part of the great #VinkAndGingeUpNorth road trip, Vicky and I went in for breakfast and blooming lovely it was too! Having talked on twitter about my impending trip to Bettys the one thing everybody had advised was get there early! We took note (despite the pain of an earlyish start after a heavy nights drinking) and it was worth it, with no queues to talk of, we headed straight into the dining room.

Of course you go there for the tea. and because we were there early doors, it was only right that we went for their famous breakfast tea (which was delicious!). They have a section of over 50 teas and coffees though, so if you’re visiting later in the day or fancy trying something a bit more exotic, I’m sure they’ll have something for you!

As my go to breakfast at anywhere decent, I went for Eggs Benedict, my absolute fave. As I knew it would be, the whole thing was utterly scrummy. Beautifully rich, orange runny yolks and smoked Yorkshire ham. The English muffin was perfect as I expected. If we’d have been there any later we’d definitely have been hitting up the patisserie too. Sadly, with a slight hang over on our heads, sweet things could have been a step too far!

What really struck me most about this place was the timelessness of it all. As a history graduate (ahem.. a while ago now) I just love finding places where time stands still. The Harrogate tea room was the first in the Betty’s empire and opened in 1919, almost 100 years ago and yet we could have been sat there drinking our tea in 1925, 1950, 1998 or I suspect 2020 and not know the difference. Despite decor updates over the years, the place has changed so little that anyone jumping into a time capsule would instantly feel at home, whatever era they’d travelled from.