By the time you read this, Madison’s Tea Rooms should once again be open for business after Vale of White Horse councillors agreed to make an exception and allow the café to move to Newbury Street.
We reported in August that the owners of the tea rooms had applied for planning permission for the old bookshop in Newbury Street to be converted for use as a food outlet They had already closed their former base in the Arbery Centre as they’d outgrown it.
The original application was turned down but permission was finally granted at an appeal in August which was supported by MP Ed Vaizey and backed by a petition signed by over 1000 local residents.
Cllr Terry Quinlan, Chairman of Development Control, said, “The majority of Members felt, as a one-off, that allowing the tearooms to relocate to this venue would actually do more to enhance the town and that area. It was very encouraging to see the strength of feeling about the tea rooms. For the many people who attended the meeting that may have been their first contact with the Council or at least the first meeting they have ever attended.”
