Press Reviews & Customer Comments

We’ve put some snippets from Press Reviews and our lovely customers here for you to have a look at. Always good to get a second opinion!!

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National & Local Press Articles on Loopy's & Reviews


 

Spear heading the Tea Revolution

Cuppa fans turnover a new leaf as tea returns

Published Date: 24 January 2010 Scotland on Sunday

By David Leask

IT HELPED forge an empire, sustained us through the Blitz, and may be comforting us through the recession.

Sales of tea in the UK rose last year for the first time in four decades as economically depressed consumers remembered just how comforting a cuppa can be. Tea experts believe young women are driving sales – up 3 per cent in 2009 – as they reject purse-emptying lattes, smoothies and bottled waters in favour of the brews their grannies enjoyed.

Old-fashioned tea salons are also enjoying a resurgence with at least three opening in Scotland in the last 18 months. They include Loopy Lorna's and Eteaket in Edinburgh as well as Brewhaha in Glasgow. Luxury hotels are also reopening the out-of-favour tea rooms that once catered to Edwardians.

William Gorman, chief executive of the UK Tea Council, said: "The popularity of tea is definitely back on the rise. We think tea has done really well in the recession, even though prices increased last year by about 10 per cent.

"Aside from the fact that the average cup of tea costs less than 5p - including the cost of boiling the kettle - we are finding a lot of people, especially, young women are interested in the health benefits".

Despite the growth of US-style coffee culture in the last decade, two-thirds of Britons still drink tea daily. Last year, the nation drank 165 million teas a day compared to 70 million coffees.

The trend has been picked up on by five-star hotels in Scotland, including the Old Course in St Andrews, the Sheraton and the Balmoral in Edinburgh and Turnberry in Ayrshire. The latter two are former railway hotels, which originally had tea salons to cater for Edwardian tourists.

Last year, Turnberry reopened its historic Grand Tea Lounge overlooking the island of Ailsa Craig, and was swamped by thirsty day-trippers and locals. The hotel hired Scotland's first tea sommelier to make sure its brews went with its snacks and has a wide range of premium teas from different countries. "We think tea should be treated like wine," a spokesman for the hotel said.

Gorman agreed. "We think tea is roughly where wine was 30 or 40 years ago. Suddenly we are discovering that there is more to tea than builder's brew."

In award-winning Loopy Lorna's, in Edinburgh's Morningside, Jeanette Coyle and Hannah Veitch, who were meeting up for a pot of English Breakfast, said that coffee culture was losing its appeal.

"For years I switched to coffee," Coyle, 60, said. "But now I am back on my tea, just like I was when I was young. Tea is just so much more refreshing and there is far less caffeine so you can enjoy much more of it."  Veitch, 74, is also back on the tea after a lifetime of coffee-drinking. "My dad was a baker and used to stew his tea so that the spoon would stand up in it," she said. "But now the teas have got much more flavour and variety."

The cafe's owner, Gaynor Salisbury, admitted that she was surprised at just how popular her tearoom – and others – had become. But she knows why.   "People are bored with chain coffee shops. Women, especially, like the idea of a nice pot, a nice tea cosy and a nice cup and saucer with real leaf tea and not dust in a bag."

The latest rise in tea sales follows four decades of decline as coffee consumption shot up in the UK. Some experts, Gorman included, believe some of the drop can be blamed on long-running marketing campaigns that gave the drink an antiquated image. "The tea industry wasn't very innovative in its marketing," he said.  Coffee culture had also alienated the tea drinkers who still make up the bulk of the hot-drink buying British public, he added.

Few consumers are happy to pay around £2 for a teabag plunged in to a cardboard cup. "That", he said. "is like drinking fine wine out of a jam jar."

Independent      50 Best Tea Rooms      Aug 2009

This Morningside teahouse boasts loose leaf teas, freshly made cakes and a slightly affected sense of wackiness. If you can ignore the latter, it's an enthusiastic and energetic sort of place with a great menu that is properly child-friendly. There's a separate children's menu, under-10s get free juice and there's a specially designed baby-changing room with all the necessities provided.

Guardian.co.uk     Aug 2009

A great place to stop for tea and excellent scones.

Slightly out of the city centre, but worth the stroll across the Meadows or a bus ride to the well-heeled suburb Of Morningside.

Scotland on Sunday      5th July 2009Sunday Herald       29th March 2009 – Joanna Blythman

‘Witness the transformation wrought in Edinburgh's genteel Morningside where a last-century coffee shop has been reborn as Loopy Lorna's, a 21st-century tea house run by the Starbucks generation.

The recession has been put on hold at Loopy Lorna's, which has gone down a storm since it opened last summer. It is not at all cheap - quality teas and conscientious home baking never can be - but this exhilaratingly girly establishment is nevertheless packing them in.

People of all ages and both genders love the crockery, the old bone china that your granny threw out, the Doris day pinnies, the quaintly wacky tea cosies knitted by somebody's granny, the prompt top-ups of hot water, the sugar cubes, and the lacy doilies wedged between the table and its practical glass surface. It's as comforting as flannelette pyjamas and a hot water bottle.

There are reasonable soup-and-salad lunches and rather good breakfasts to be had at Loopy Lorna's, things like homemade muesli or the Full Loopy Breakfast: Ramsay of Carluke's free-range bacon and pork sausage, Stornoway black pudding, field mushrooms, grilled vine tomato with thyme, potato scone, baked beans and egg as you like it, all served with tea and toast, for£8.95. That's rather more affordable than the full afternoon tea which will knock you back£12.50 or even £14.50, if you go for one of the rarer, more special teas.

For this you get a daunting amount to eat; finger sandwiches with smoked salmon and egg and cress, effectively a whole Cornish cream tea of crusty, fresh scones with clotted cream and jam, lurid cupcakes à la Manhattan's Magnolia Bakery, buttery empire biscuits, mini-pavlovas and squares of Loopy Lorna's uncompromisingly olde worlde tray bakes. The selection is delightfully square. Seek not the weekend supplement sophistication of River Café lemon polenta cake or Elizabeth David's classic chocolate almond cake. Think instead of a Brownie bring-and-buy sale, that nostalgic landscape of tiffin, buttercream sponge and coconut macaroons, basically everything that involves heaps of sugar, crushed digestives, condensed milk, and even the odd slab of margarine.

I'm addicted to the specially blended Earl Grey which is lightly fragrant with tiny bits of orange zest, loving the cream teas, challenged by the cloying margarine and icing sugar sweetness of the cupcakes( a few more grown-up offerings wouldn't go amiss), disappointed by the ordinariness of the bread and still working my way through the tray bakes. Loopy Lorna's take on caramel shortbread has to be experienced (cocoa shortbread base, buttery caramel and milky white topping). I vowed I'd never eat a whole square of that sticky coconut, biscuit, caramel and two-types-of-chocolate thing.

Of course I did, but then it kept me revved up all day. Fun, fun, fun..’

 Scotsman       6th February 2009

‘The Morningside Lady title is one which is often used a little mockingly by those from out with the area, and suggests those who bear it may perhaps be fond of giving themselves "airs and graces".

But in Loopy Lorna's amid the dainty china teacups, indulgent cakes and respectably pitched chatter, I didn't even have to finish explaining to a gaggle of three well-dressed, well-spoken matrons why I'd chosen there to seek out the perfect example of a discerning shopper.......

...This place is very 'Morningside'," they gesture to the refined surrounds of Lorna's where, from the hand-knitted tea-cosies to the antique cups, not a thing could ever be suspected of being mass produced.....

It's a Thursday morning, but Loopy Lorna's is full.

It's just over three months since it opened, but as Michelle Phillips, chef/manager of the tea-room explains, Morningside was the natural location for the proprietor's dream of opening an old-fashioned tea shop.

It certainly seems to be popular and I express surprise at quite how busy it is here given we're in the middle of recession’.

The Scotsman       22nd October 2008

‘But there is a lot more to tea-drinking than that soggy tea bag you plop into a mug of water first thing in the morning. Probyn sells hundreds of blends via his website, blends forfriends.com, and supplies tea houses across the UK including the tea house Loopy Lorna’s in Morningside, which opened on Friday, serving 18 different blends from quaint china pots complete with woolly tea cosies. At a time when every second pedestrian seems to be clutching a cardboard cup full of coffee, the growing popularity of loose-leaf teas makes a refreshing change.

“In the few days since we opened we’ve barely had a table free,” says Michelle Phillips of Loopy Lorna’s. “In a city full of coffee shops I think that people are enjoying a bit of a change. And they’re looking for much more than a standard cup of tea. They seem to be really interested in where the teas come from and how they’re blended. They’re also keen to try different teas and expand their knowledge a bit’.

The List                23rd July 2009

It's about time someone combated the aggressive spread of coffee shops with an equivalent destination for tea drinking, and Loopy Lorna's does it with flair.  Named after the proprietor's mother, it's emphasis on classy tea blends, cakes that look too good to eat and unashamedly girly decor have made it an instant Morningside hit.

Ion Magazine       February 2009

‘It’s not quite lunch – although there are sandwiches all day if that’s what you want – but nested in the heart of Morningside is an oddly eccentric teahouse called Loopy Lorna’s.  If you’ve passed through the area since the end of last year, it’s highly unlikely that you won’t have noticed the buzz that this little cafe has been generating since it opened.  Owner Gaynor Gibson is over the moon with its instant success. “We opened at noon on 17th October and were full by 12.30.  We more or less have been ever since,” she says.

Unsurprisingly, really.  This place oozes all the tradition of tearooms with all the character of an old eccentric gentleman.  Loopy Lorna’s is warm and inviting with a welcoming family feel about it, probably largely down to Gibson’s recruitment rules for her team of 18. “I believe the personalities of the staff can make or break a business,” she says.  “All my staff have been chosen for their personalities over their experience; you can train but you can’t give someone that special something that makes a person genuine and a joy to be with”.

The warmth of the tearooms extends to the decor.  To describe the interior of Loopy Lorna’s as dull would be like calling Hugh Hefner a feminist, and quirky details are what makes it stand out from the crowd.  Unusual wallpaper dresses the walls, oversized vintage cake stands and tea pots covered in funky, individually knitted tea cosies are scattered on the tables, and the china cups are largely selected from the local charity shops.  There’s an extensive speciality tea menu – including at least six unique and wacky blends to suit tea lovers in search of something a bit different, a wide range of delicious homemade cakes and light meals, a children’s menu in a kid friendly environment and fabulous afternoon teas to be savoured.

Spend a bit of time at Loopy Lorna’s and you’d be forgiven for expecting the Mad Hatter and the March Hare to sit down at the table next to you and start chatting erratically about unbirthdays and unanswerable riddles.  Tea in Morningside has never been so lovely....’

Instant Magazine          14th July 2009

Loopy Lornas is a very different affair. Miss-matched bone china makes the experience quirky – knitted tea cosies feature rabbits, elephants and flowers. The cakes displayed wouldn’t look out of place in an art gallery. The girls wear kitsch pinnies and the cupcakes come in pastel colours freckled with hearts, flowers and dots.

I have one of the exotic teas, a tight ball that’s dropped into a glass teapot. We sit back and watch the bundle blossom into a gorgeous bloom. Egg mayonnaise and smoked salmon sandwiches fill the bottom tier of the cake stand. Next are mini strawberry and cream meringues, cupcakes and choc-chip shortbread. The top layer is for the scones to be splodged with lashings of clotted cream and homemade jam; all fresh and scrummy, the tea is topped up with regularity. Everything about Loopy Lorna’s is loopylicious; even the cuckoo clock is bonkers.

If you want to make this a special event, bring your own bottle of Champers and the corkage is free, but it has to be a sparkler.

Evening News      Ten Questions answered by Gillian Myles, 24, from Polwarth,  a business development manager at Gusto   25th July 2009

Qu. 4    What are the best things about Edinburgh?

The Voodoo Rooms for live music, Monties for Sunday breakfast, Gusto for pizza,Loopy Lorna's for a brew, the Water of Leith for a stroll. I love the size of the city, the festival, the culture.

Evening News      20th July 2009

Jane Henderson, 30, a shop assistant from Roseburn, lists her top five tea and coffee shops across the city.

No. 1    Loopy Lorna's, Morningside Road

I love the afternoon tea here – a great treat to share with a friend. The staff are wonderful and the whole shop is really cool.

Customer Reviews from Online Review Websites & Blogs

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186525-d1596205-Reviews-Loopy_Lorna_s_Tea_House-Edinburgh_Scotland.html

sjb90, Cambridge, United Kingdom,6 Dec 2009

My "light snack"......

Independent tearooms are a bit of a mixed bag. The quality is extremely variable -- which, I guess, is why many people (including myself) often retreat to the likes of Costa and Starbucks, where you know in advance what you'll be getting. The trouble is, many of those chains can be entirely devoid of character...

Well, you certainly couldn't accuse Loopy Lorna's of being characterless -- it's bursting at the seams with quirkiness, with absolutely top-notch food and drink. I popped in there whilst visiting a friend in Edinburgh. The place is a little crazy (and clearly revels in this reputation -- whilst there, one of the staff was putting up a sign with a pink hammer...), but it's by far the best teashop I've ever seen.

I went in the late morning, and decided to have a light snack as we were on for a late lunch. I'm normally more of a coffee-drinker but, as there was a menu of all sorts of teas on offer, I decided to go for one of these for a change. Gosh, I'm glad I did. When the tea arrived, it was in a proper (large!) teapot, with a knitted tea-cosy to keep the brew toasty warm. Everyone in the shop had different tea-cosies -- and I've since discovered on their website that they're all knitted especially for the shop. Mine was in the style of a Christmas pudding, with a robin on top. Unexpected, but rather fun! And the cake... well they certainly don't skimp on their slices -- it was absolutely delicious, but there was so much, I didn't manage to eat it all (so much for our light snack plan!).

If I had one criticism, I think it'd be that the slices of cake really are a little _too_ big -- and as a consequence Loopy Lorna's charge a little more for the cakes than you could justify spending on a regular basis. My preference would be to serve up slightly smaller slices, for a slightly lower cost -- otherwise, if I lived in Edinburgh, I'd end up gaining weight as fast as I'd be losing money!

Overall though, I can't recommend this teashop enough -- I'll certainly be back there when I'm next in Scotland!

Tripadvisor

“Fantastic tea; crazy tea house; delicious (but huge) cakes!”

Yelp      Sept 2009

The external branding is eye-catching and I have been itching to pop into Loopy Lorna's Tea House for weeks.

So, as you leave the hussle and bussle of Morningside Road behind you, you enter into another world of homemade cakes and mis-matched tea cups, a homely yet contemporary world, which is instantly welcoming from the moment your wee toe crosses the threshold. Suddenly, Morningside Road is a distant memory and you feel miles away. Well, that's how I felt away!

The tea room's cakes are clearly a principal attraction (even though they offer a much wider menu - see http://www.loopylornas... for further details) but I was on a "forget the diet" mission for cake, and I wasn't disappointed. A waitress kindly seated me at the window and I decided to try a slice of carrot cake. I also opted for a small pot of sleeping beauty tea. Both were absolutely delicious and I couldn't resist buying a packet of the tea to enjoy at home. I would have bought one of the glass teapots they use as well, but you can't buy the teapots in the shop, yet! For those who don't have time to sit in, you can also buy cakes to take away.

In terms of price, I didn't think that anything was expensive, especially compared to what you can spend in a high street chain. I also found the ambient music fitting for the venue and very relaxing. Oh and if you need to spend a penny, the toilets are fab. I won't spoil the surprise, but I actually said wow when I opened the door (in a totally good way). Great design!

Overall, a real gem of a tea room. It is full of people who have a passion for design, a passion for homemade food and a welcoming attitude that really shines through. So, pop in, you won't be disappointed. As far as I could see, it was popular with families, couples, mums and grannies alike. There was also a group of girls that, particularly, reminded me of Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha and Miranda. I wonder what they were chatting about over tea and cake?
 
http://my.opera.com/kirstycat/blog/    Sept 2009

Today me and my bf were celebrating having been together for two years, and chose to spend the day having a wander around Edinburgh, exploring and going in whatever direction took our fancy

We ended up walking to morningside (a posh area of Edinburgh) and had lunch in an eccentric little teahouse called 'loopy lorna's'.

I was treated to a really nice salmon sandwich with coconut, ginger and pumpkin soup, followed by a big panda pot of earl grey tea and a big slice of amazing home made chocolate cake. It was great!
It was such a lovely cozy little place, full of crazy little decorations and funny details. Every teapot got its own little handmade tea cozy. I loved our panda head one! I couldn't stop stroking it Wish this tea house was closer to where I live! It is just the sort of place I would love to run myself one day!

 

The Red Mangetout Blog   April 2009

After a particularly lazy morning, T and I walked to Morningside. I wanted to nose around Waitrose to see if they had any freeze dried raspberries, and possibly check out the Oxfam bookshop for some cookery tomes. Instead we stopped by Loopy Lorna's for tea.

It was quite busy, which wasn't surprising for Saturday afternoon, but there were a couple of spare tables. The waitress brought round menus, and we decided to treat ourselves to a Cornish cream tea. T had morning blend tea, and I had Lapsang Souchong. The counter was heaving with delicious looking cakes, and I couldn't wait to see if the scones were as good as they looked.

Our tea came in tiny teapots, each with a unique teacosy. Mine was black with a pink knitted teapot, Loopy Lorna's logo. T had an amazing teacosy on his pot, it was knitted from a feathery material and decorated to look like a chicken! I wish I'd had my camera with me. The tea was loose leaf, so alongside our cups and saucers, we were both provided with a tea strainer.

The first cup was delicious, with a hint of smoke. Normally I am a milk and sugar type, but I drank this black. The next cup was a little overbrewed, but had T and I shared a pot instead of demanding different types of tea it would have been great. They also offered free refills of hot water, so even though the tea was a little expensive you could easily string it out for a few extra cups. I was torn between the lapsong souchong and the Earl Grey, although I was also tempted by the white teas and oolongs. I shall have to go back and try all the others!

The scones looked delicious, and the bowl of clotted cream was generous. The raspberry jam had nice chunks of fruit in it, but the portion was a tad stingey for a greedy person like me!

Now for the moment of truth... could these scones live up to my childhood memories? They were almost perfect. The outside was biscuity, with a bit of a crunch, but the inside was soft and cake-like. The best bit was that they didn't leave the weird, cloying floury film on your teeth that bad scones do. The worst bit was that I felt so full afterwards! We couldn't finish all of them, and didn't have enough room for a refil of tea.

I really wish I had thought of this, as it's really quirky and unusual. I loved all the retro china and doilies, and the slightly mismatched and bold decor. Even though it is a bit of a trek from my flat, I really wish I had more visitors so I could take them out for tea! I can't wait to go back and try all the different blends of tea, as well as the full afternoon tea with sandwiches and cakes. A great little find and highly recommended.

Edinburgh Blog       April 2009

Loopy Lorna’s is all a bit, well, loopy. Meanwhile Bennets bar at the side of Loopy Lorna’s is anything but loopy - it’s a stark contrast, but at the same a great complement. It’s tea houses and bars like Loopy Lorna’s and Bennets which make Morningside such a quirky and interesting area to live in or visit. Loopy Lorna’s is a tea house you just know is going to be good; at least that’s what we were banking on when making a quick trip across Edinburgh in time for 5.30pm last orders on Sunday. Loopy Lorna’s did not disappoint.

Loopy Lorna’s is quite far down Morningside Road and is on the corner of Morningside Road and Maxwell Street. Loopy Lorna’s is a tea house for anyone, demonstrated by the group of friends sat by the window, the newborn baby and her mother at the table next to ours and the three joggers at the table behind. The interior catches the light very well and perfectly captures the quirky, fresh and accessible feel which I’m sure the owners intended - a job very well done.

If we hadn’t have eaten such a large lunch the temptation to order Loopy Lorna’s traditional afternoon tea (£12.95 each) would have proved too much. Instead we needed three loops around Loopy Lorna’s dazzling array of homemade cakes before we made up our minds. I chose a wonderful chocolate cake with maltesers on top and a light mousse filling (£3.95). This was absolutely fantastic - a humongous portion of pure chocolate heaven. The banana cake (£2.95) my fellow tea house tripper ordered had the perfect taste, but it was too dry (probably because it was the end piece and our visit was late in the day). A slight shame as I’m sure earlier it would have been faultless.

Loopy Lorna’s isn’t cheap, but it isn’t expensive either. Our large pot of morning tea (£3.45) was so large it nearly took two of us to lift! The teapot came dressed in a vibrant pink and green knitted tea cosy, complete with little pink rabbits around its top. If you want to recreate part of the Loopy Lorna’s experience at home the tea cosys are available for purchase. Usually we’d order Darjeeling tea, but as this was on Loopy Lorna’s specialty tea menu it was a whopping £6.50 for the large pot!

The exquisite attention to detail, the vast offerings (breakfast, lunch, sandwiches and ice cream are all on offer) and great service show Loopy Lorna’s is ran as much more than just a business - there is a real passion behind it. Loopy Lorna’s is the tea house every Edinburgh resident wishes was just round the corner from them.
 
www.icklemedia.com       20th April 2009      

The external branding is eye-catching and I have been itching to pop into Loopy Lorna’s Tea House for weeks.

So, as you leave the hussle and bussle of Morningside Road behind you, you enter into another world of homemade cakes and mis-matched tea cups, a homely yet contemporary world, which is instantly welcoming from the moment your wee toe crosses the threshold. Suddenly, Morningside Road is a distant memory and you feel miles away. Well, that’s how I felt away!

The tea room’s cakes are clearly a principal attraction (even though they offer a much wider menu – see www.loopylornas.com for further details) but I was on a “forget the diet” mission for cake, and I wasn’t disappointed. A waitress kindly seated me at the window and I decided to try a slice of carrot cake. I also opted for a small pot of sleeping beauty tea. Both were absolutely delicious and I couldn’t resist buying a packet of the tea to enjoy at home. I would have bought one of the glass teapots they use as well, but you can’t buy the teapots in the shop, yet! For those who don’t have time to sit in, you can also buy cakes to take away.

In terms of price, I didn’t think that anything was expensive, especially compared to what you can spend in a high street chain. I also found the ambient music fitting for the venue and very relaxing. Oh and if you need to spend a penny, the toilets are fab. I won’t spoil the surprise, but I actually said wow when I opened the door (in a totally good way). Great design!

Overall, a real gem of a tea room. It is full of people who have a passion for design, a passion for homemade food and a welcoming attitude that really shines through. So, pop in, you won’t be disappointed. As far as I could see, it was popular with families, couples, mums and grannies alike. There was also a group of girls that, particularly, reminded me of Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha and Miranda. I wonder what they were chatting about over tea and cake?

www.blipfoto.com       18th April 2009

Continuing my lovely teashops of Edinburgh series!
So far we've had E-tea-ket and Tea Tree Tea, todays amazing addition is Loopy Lornas!

Miss Boo and I popped in here when we were down in Morningside (gazing at pretty things in pretty places where we can't possibly afford to shop...) earlier today.
The tea is amazing, the cakes are to die for and the place itself is gorgeous. Very happy and girly with cool wallpaper, shiny pink tables, lots of butterflies, mismatched fine china, knitted tea cosies and a real 'special treat' feeling! :O) Populated mostly by 'ladies who lunch' but I did spot a couple of gentlemen callers too.

We had a cream tea, which involved a huge pot of earl grey (with a very cool tea cosy - does anyone have a pattern cos I'd love to try and make one?!), 4 freshly baked scones, lashings of clotted cream and homemade raspberry jam. Ahhhhhhh.......

Not by any stretch of the imagination on my diet, but was just to good to pass up :O) It'll have to be veggies and soup all week long so that I can go again next week, lol.
 
www.qype.co.uk        16th April 2009

If your passion is tea and cakes this is an absolute must in Edinburgh. I ventured across town to check it out and after getting excited at the sight of pink teapots on the outside, I was rendered speechless in awe of the display of cakes facing me as you entered the cafe! Heaven? Oh yes!

There are few businesses that get it right - all of it, spot on and this is one of them!: the service, the choice, the generosity (portions of cakes and top ups of hot water), quality, and you can take a bit of the experience away with you whether that’s cake or teapots and aprons! They have thought of everything! (well, I’m just waiting on the cake and tea sampling evenings please?!).

The real show stealer is the tea cosies - their creator must lie awake at night thinking of new designs (we certainly came up with a few while we were there and I’m sure I dreamt of them that night!)- a multitude of colourful knitted loveliness adorning each table.

Wow! I’m smitten!

www.bellyrumbles.wordpress.com           8th March 2009

Loopy Lornas Tea House......Charmingly mismatched china, gigglesome and wonderful teacosies that change with the season, the best poached eggs I’ve ever seen and, oh yes, a proper clotted cream tea with soft, warm scones and plenty of jam. Did I take a picture when I was inside? I was way too busy scoffing and it was dreadfully remiss of me.

www.qype.co.uk       4th December 2008  

I went to Loopy Lornas yesterday for lunch with my friends, having passed it so many times and seen it packed with people, I was intrigued to see if it was just the novelty of a new place or if it was actually worth all the fuss. To put it simply IT IS! The atmosphere hits you as soon as you walk in, helped by the fab and quaint decor, old fashioned and quirky tunes and really friendly staff. I must say it was exceptionally busy for a week day compared to other places but when our lunches came along we could see why. I had the hot dish of the day which was a tasty pasta dish, my friends had a pate (home made) and soup and half a sandwich (nice idea).

We enjoyed real tea - nearly forgot to use the tea strainer!! -not sure if I can go back to bags now but what finished us off was the choice of home made cakes. We all indulged, even though we really shouldn’t have. I really loved it and will be back to sample all the cakes I couldn’t eat. The place doesn’t have a licence but when we asked about it getting one (nothing quite like a nice alcoholic beverage with your lunch sometimes), our waitress advised us that you can bring along champagne to accompany your lunch or afternoon tea and they won’t charge you corkage. So guess what we are doing next week. Definitely worth a visit, even if it is just for a lovely cup of tea. Five stars for our first but not last visit.

www.localguidetoedinburgh

Take me to the loony bin!

We thought we'd seen everything when it comes to scones. You know, they've been around long enough. But then [insert Hollywood blockbuster trailer voice here] we went to Loopy Lorna's Tea House to tasted the lightest, smoothest and most elegant scone in the ENTIREuniverse. We kid you not. Try them out and if you think you can bake better send your recipe in. We'll organize a bake-off. For now though these guys are the current champions

 

Reviews from our Happiness Cards

Cool aprons!!! The food was like angels dancing on your tongue!

Emma

I've always loved a good cup of tea and cake and sitting with friends having a girly gossip but never so much! The posh china and proper teas made us all feel so grand and i am already looking into buying a 1940s style tea dress.

The earl grey tea I had was beautiful and made my Typhoo tea bag seem so dull when I got home. On my next visit I will be buying a bag of your loose tea leaves. I'm already looking forward to having the Loopy Lorna's experience in my house though, I feel my home brews will never be the same again! Loopy Lorna's is truly wondeful! A haven for those who love everything warm in life. Thankyou! xxxxx

Georgie

I would like to live here!

Marion

Absolutely the best in Edinburgh for breakfast and tea.

William and Sophie

Fabulous and pleasantly quaint

Valerie

Amazing - cake awesome

I'd love to move in, do you have a spare bed?

Catharina

It was great, better than Betty's in Harrogate

My dream café

Rana

Finally decent tea and tea cups. Thank goodness for such a lovely tea room

Kirsty

Morningside has needed a place like this for a long time

Mandy

I have broken my diet because of you. Love, love the place!!! A great tea house in Morningside. Thanks.

Kim

Been a black tea drinker for ever - that was the best Earl Grey I've ever drunk. Love this place!

Julie

Loopy’s is also getting used as an example of best practice!

     http://www.tourism-intelligence.co.uk/loopylornasteahouse.aspx

Listening to our Visitors

At Loopy Lorna’s Tea House in Edinburgh, Gaynor Salisbury decided that from the outset she wanted to know what her customers thought of her ideas and to change accordingly to make sure she gave people the very best experience. Loopy Lorna’s opened in October 2008 and aims to offer the very best tea experience available with a fun and quirky approach. From the start, Gaynor introduced ‘Happiness Cards’ on every table.  “I wanted to gauge customer satisfaction at all levels of the customer journey while maintaining a quirky and fun angle to gain a detailed response. The ‘Happiness Cards’ were devised both to receive feedback but also to obtain a customer database for future promotions and events.  Initially I thought there were too many questions and that this would put customers off replying but in just 2 months we have had over 300 cards completed with around 90% being very positive. Of course the 10% with criticisms are actually the most useful as we have been able to learn from these and have improved our customer service accordingly.”

Key areas which have been addressed as a result of the cards are:

·         Customers wanted a full cooked breakfast - initially we decided the size of the kitchen wouldn’t allow for cooked breakfasts but the demand is high so we now do two full breakfasts including vegetarian in addition to lighter options.

 

·         Customers asked for hot water to top up their teas. Staff now go around the tables offering top ups on a regular basis.

 

·         We discovered that the biggest attraction was the tea cosies rather than the china tea pots which were odd shapes and sizes. We decided to buy standard size tea pots with the Loopy Lorna’s logo as it was easier to ensure tea quality and good pouring.  The tea pots are highly admired in the array of different cosies.
 

·         The importance of ensuring customers are welcomed immediately they come in has been emphasized and staff trained accordingly.
 

·         The positive comments are a great reward for a great deal of hard work and also highly motivational for staff to know they are appreciated and getting it right most of the time. There are a selection of customer comments on our web-site which give a feel for Loopy and how well she is loved! The customer database is growing daily and we are able to keep our lovely Loopy customers up to date with all Loopy news and events.

 “After initially thinking the ‘Happiness Cards’ were too busy with too many questions I will now keep them as they are with perhaps a few quirky additions in the next print run”.




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