A popular venue in Elland has brought a touch of Victorian elegance to the town.

Bertie’s has been hosting formal dinners, birthday parties and weddings for the past 35 years.

Now co-owners Jonathan Nicholls and David Cooper have invested £85,000 to create Bertie’s Coffee Lounge & Tea Room.

And the Examiner has been given an exclusive preview.

The ground floor cocktail bar and reception area has been transformed – featuring antique crockery and white-clothed tables, cut glass tumblers, floral displays made up of real and artificial flowers and a 19th century cake display cabinet.

The lounge can accommodate up to 72 people, including a patio area which can seat up to 16.

The tea and coffee lounge will open to the public on Bank Holiday Monday, May 28, and thereafter will open from 10am to 4pm Mondays to Fridays.

After closing each day, the space will revert to a cocktail bar and reception area – following a 90-minute turnaround to clear the tables and chairs – in readiness for evening events.

Mr Cooper said the team at Bertie’s had distributed 2,500 tickets to local people for free tea or coffee for the opening day.

He said: “Bertie’s has been a venue for the past 35 years, but it has never opened daily unless someone booked it. We host dinners, conferences, weddings, birthdays and funerals, but most events are at the weekends – even though we have seven full-time staff in the building each day.”

Mr Cooper said the idea of a tea and coffee lounge was suggested to the team and got a “resounding vote of approval”.

The investment includes £10,000 spent on espresso equipment. Some 900 pieces of Victorian bone china – most of it from The Spiced Pear at Hepworth with other items tracked down by family members hunting through charity shops across Yorkshire.

Customers will be able to sample a unique barista multi award-winning blend of coffee, Fortnum & Mason’s Royal Blend of tea, a further dozen different loose teas, and a fully-licensed bar for those accompanying their afternoon tea with Prosecco or champagne.

There will also be hand-crafted cakes, sandwiches and other indulgent treats on offer – with several daily delights cooked on-site at its Brook Street base by Jonathan, executive chef director, and his kitchen team.

Jonathan said: “It will be a venue for everyone in the area and beyond to meet up and try a first-class coffee and tea lounge menu that’s mostly locally-sourced and beautifully presented.

“We were really keen to add to the business community of Elland, bolster the local economy with new job openings and provide a really exciting and luxurious venue for Calderdale.”

Bertie’s, which also has an outside catering service, was voted Best Yorkshire Wedding Venue in 2015 at the prestigious “I Do” wedding awards and was a finalist in the 2017 awards. The business was set up by Brett Woodward in 1988 and acquired by Jonathan Nicholls in 2013.