“We’re going from strength to strength, we’re the busiest we’ve ever been”

Reflections Tea Room at Grimsby Crematorium is becoming more and more popular, with regular groups and customers coming week in week out.

The tea room opened in Summer 2022, formerly the disused Crematorium Lodge. The café offers a range of hot meals and drinks as well as cakes and sweet treats.

There is also an upstairs meeting room that can be used for meetings, wakes and other gatherings, providing a valuable community asset.

Recently, the tea room was closed due to flooding on the crematorium site, but has now fully reopened and is performing better than ever.

Deputy Bereavement Services Manager, Daniel Intress-Franklin, said: “It’s been really good recently. Over the last year, we’ve continued to grow and we’re really building a head of steam.

“It’s going so well that we’re now starting to get regular customers and groups. We have a book club and even a Veteran’s support group meeting here every week.”

He added: “If you’d have asked us when we first opened, I don’t think we would have ever thought we’d be at this point. We’re making great progress at the minute and we just want to continue with that.”

However, Daniel admits that there have been some teething problems. “We had a couple of issues like everyone does, but the team have worked hard to quickly overcome them and they are why the tea room does as well as it does.

“We all pull together to help where we can and this success is a testament to them.” The public are also grateful for how understanding the staff are.

He added: “Working next to a cemetery means people are sometimes upset when they come in, but everyone here does their best to make them feel welcome.” Now, Daniel hopes to get more community groups through the door.

“We want people to know that we’re here and that they are more than welcome to come and use the space. We’re not just a business, we’re a community asset too.”

Reflections tea room is just one new addition to the site with a pet crematorium opened in June last year. For more information, please email [email protected] or call 01472 324869 and press option 4.