Cellar café opening
4 April 2025
The historic cellars below Longleat House will re-open on Saturday as a café with a nod to the menu served to the public when the Wiltshire estate first opened in 1949.
Large kitchens with teams of cooks and chefs have been at the heart of Longleat House for generations and the part of the basement in which the Cellar Café is situated was originally used as beer cellars.
The Cellar Café will feature pre-bookable Afternoon Tea which features sweet and savoury delicacies personally selected by Emma Thynn, the 8th Marchioness of Bath.
The revamped café reflects the oak-based décor in Emma’s Kitchen which features produce and recipes celebrating hundreds of years of baking at Longleat.
Emma Challinor, the estate’s archivist, said: “In the Beer cellars in 1837 there were over 100 casks of beer, all of different sizes containing 124 hogsheads of strong beer, and 63 hogsheads of table beer. One hogshead contained 432 pints.
“Table beer had a low alcohol content and was considered a good source of nutrients and hydration for workers. Up until the First World War beer was supplied as a staple of the servants’ diets.”
Gordon Grimmett, Longleat lamp boy 1917-1919 remembers that beer was served regularly in the Servants’ Hall in leather beer jacks, the archives show.
And it was also served at breakfast; Daphne, 6th Marchioness of Bath, noted that leather flagons of Longleat-brewed ale were ‘always left standing on the servants’ hall table for anyone to help himself’.
Emma said: “When the House opened to the public in 1949 the 6th Marquess of Bath arranged for the old chapel at the west side of Longleat house to be fitted out as a temporary restaurant offering simple refreshments: ‘ a Help-Yourself service, providing cups of tea, bread and butter, sandwiches, cakes, minerals, ices etc.’
“In 1952 however more permanent tea rooms were created by converting part of the Longleat cellar area in the south basement into a restaurant and small tearoom, with storeroom and fitted kitchen.”
Scott Ashman, Head of Operations, said: “A surviving menu from the early days of the Cellar Café shows a luncheon of ham salad, jelly and icecream, cheese and biscuits and a cup of tea. Sandwiches and cake were also available.
“Interestingly the menu underlines the word ‘butter’ provided with your bread in the set tea or high tea choices – a reminder that this was a luxury that was still rationed until 1954.
“Light dishes will continue to be served in the café and beer is also available.”
The café opening is at the start of Easter at Longleat which features a live show and an egg trail to find a chocolate treat.
