Glasgow couple bid farewell to The Tea Garden after 32 years

Albert and Linda Kennedy Evans closed The Tea Garden last week after proudly running the cafe for 32 years.

Albert, 73, and Linda, 71, first opened their Gardner Street cafe in March 1992 with their daughters Reeca and Zoe.

Linda said: "It was a coffee shop when we took it over but we put our own stamp on it.

"We wallpapered it, decorated it with antiques, had teapots hanging."

First photo of The Tea Garden, 1992 (Image: The Tea Garden)

Linda's tasty baking and home cooking paired with the family's hospitality made the cafe a hit in the area with regular customers frequenting the hub for decades.

Affectionately known by their orders, Linda and Albert muse about Two Bacon Rolls And A Latte and Two Breakfasts.

"I got a text yesterday from Two Soups," says Albert.

He added: "The only thing I can say is it's been a pleasure and a privilege to work for the people of Partick."

Choking back tears, Linda said: "The customers have been lovely. We've laughed with them, we've cried with them.

Albert added: "Partick is a village."

It's clear the pair are heavy-hearted about leaving behind the cafe and the elderly customers that they took such joy in serving over the years.

Albert said: "I'm a bit concerned about that side of it because we had a lot of older clientele and I wonder where they are going to go now for mince and potatoes or our type of food?

"Nice lentil soup, cream and potato soup, chicken and rice, you know?

"There are a number of people looking for a certain type of food and these places are disappearing."

Linda added: "People would say it's nice coming in The Tea Garden, I feel at home here."

In a post announcing their retirement last week, Linda and Albert received an outpouring of well wishes from the Partick community.

Linda said: "We just want to say that we appreciate all the support that they’ve given us.

“The people, we couldn’t thank them enough for their support over the years."

Albert added: "We've got memories of a lot of customers.

“They're not just customers we treat them as friends.

"And we hope that we treated the staff well. One was with us for 24 years and another was with us for 20 years.

“We were like a family down there."

Albert and Linda, who travelled with the fairground in their life before the cafe, are planning a quiet start to their retirement.

Albert said: "We're only two weeks into it. We worked all our lives and we're hoping this winter with the long dark nights we don't have too much time to fill.

"When it comes to summertime, we've got a house on the outskirts of Uddingston with a reasonable size garden.

"When the summer comes there will be quite a lot to do."