Business shuts after five months

A Shrewsbury tea shop, which was opened to mark the 90th anniversary of the death of World War I poet Wilfred Owen, has closed after just five months.

Christine Yates-Roberts today said she had decided to close Wilfred Owen Tea Rooms in Abbey Foregate because of a lack of support.

But she said the business had led to another opportunity as she had started to do corporate lunches and sandwiches for office workers.

She said she had also decided to close to spend more time with her family.

"I closed the tea rooms last week. People need to support local business. I gave it a go and the people who did come in loved it and said it's what Shrewsbury needs but it needed supporting," she said.

"I would be here all day and I had to employ people in case we were busy. I was never there for my family."

She added she had employed a couple of local teenagers in the tea rooms and one would be transferring to the Old Park House bed and breakfast which she runs from the same building and which is unaffected by the closure.

The tea room, which served home-made local produce in a traditional setting, was officially opened in November by Peter Owen, Wilfred Owen's nephew.

She added: "The sandwich business which I am doing now came about through people coming into the tea room and asking if I'd do sandwiches to takeaway. I wouldn't have got this business if I hadn't done the tea room."