Harston Tearooms

 

No 21 High Street - Dovecote Tearooms.

(Deacon)

 

No 21 High Street - inside Dovecote Tearooms.

(Deacon)

Cycling from Cambridge to Harston

Cycling out of Cambridge to tearooms was a popular early C20th pastime. On 6 July 1906 the Cambs Independent Press recorded that the Town & County Ladies’ Cycling Club had their annual picnic at The Swan Tea Gardens in Harston. On 17 August the Vincent Ramblers’ Cycle Club had their picnic at Harston Tea Gardens, sports & dancing at The Green Man, where Mr Fuller, president, distributed prizes.

Lost tearooms

In 1907 the Green Man lost its licence and in 1928 the Swan Inn burnt down so those tearooms disappeared. However, about 1936 Dove House next to the Three Horseshoes, previously two cottages & before that possibly a dovecote, was converted into a tearooms. Greene King, who owned the Three Horseshoes had bought it with the lovely rose gardens in front in 1930. Shirley Joiner (nee Cullingford) recalls “it was given money for its upkeep (back then) by the local Cambridge historical or restoration society”.

John Wick recalls that “In the summertime (early 1950s) when I was quite small my mother used to take me to the Tea room beside the Three Horseshoes for an Ice cream and a cold drink, while she had a cup of tea. I think that closed quite early in my life”.

Other residents of the village think the tearooms were still in operation in 1970s but the date of its closure and subsequent demolition is uncertain. Can anyone else remember it or when it was closed?