HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1994-11-09, Page 3Business Beat
WHERE ONCE STOOD BAGS OF GRAIN - The new look of the old feed mill in Brucefield, now a tea room and soon also to be an artist's
gallery. This interior photo was taken with a special fisheye lens.
Feed mill .transformed into tea room
BY GREGOR CAMPBELL
Expositor Staff
Tea has turned into quite a chore
for two at the old Brucefield feed
mill.
But business is booming and both
Bryan and Gaye Hoy are having the
time of their lives, and it has left
some passersby and local oldtimers
just shaking their heads in disbelief
at the transformation of the
property, on the corner of.Highway
'4 and the Bayfield Road.
It is now called Millington's Tea
Room.
The I-Ioys bought the old
chopping mill two years ago March
and spent a good year just
shovelling the old grain and
whatnot out and getting rid of "100 -
year -old dust, among other things,
says Bryan. For instance he
shovelled ten 100 Ib. bags full of
the stuff just to clear a six-foot path
to the other side of the main room.
He is a former car salesman who
grew up in Goderich. She is doing
double duty and still a nurse at the
Bluewater Rest Home in Zurich.
Both are 47. His parents, both
retired, Alf and Sylvia Hoy of
Goderich, helped with the
transformation. One of the Hoy's
daughters, Brenda, lives in Scaforth;
Mrs. Paul Menary.
"This is something I always
wanted, a lot of women dream
about setting up a gift shop and tea
room," says Mrs. Hoy.
He has been putting in 14 to 16 -
hour days, seven days a week. The
car business was easier and better
for sleeping, he admits.
The location is at a prime
crossroads for attracting the summer
tourist trade. If you're heading to
Lake Huron in this area and coming
from London or Kitchener or points
east, odds are you'll pass it.
Originally Bryan figured if he could
serve one table an hour in the off
season the business could cover
costs and he could continue
renovating the second and third
floors.
Guess again. Fifteen of 22 seats
were filled for a period Friday
afternoon, reservations are coming
fast and furious and they are
averaging 40 to 50 customers per
day, despite only being open from
11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to
Saturday.
Bryan figures they've lucked onto
something here. When you look at
the map the Brucefield corner is
about equidistant and short hop and'
jump from Clinton, Exeter,
Seaforth, Clinton and Bayfield, so
your potential market is bigger than
it at first might seem. And a lot of
potential customers in this market
seem to like the idea of a short day
trip to this tea stop, just oozing with
new-found ambiance.
The tea room features light
lunches, very reasonably priced
with lots of "good old home
cooking", sandwiches off the roast,
home baked bread, and this sort of
thing. Portions are large enough that
Bryan was foolish enough to
suggest this reporter might have
difficulty finishing off a plate.
Local artists and artisans are
featured on the walls of the tea
room and in the craft and gift shop
as you enter, and the Hoys plan to
finish the second floor as an gallery
for local artists then build a loft
apartment on the third.
Finding time may become a
problem. They are not fussy on the
notion of expanding hours or the
number of tables because that
would just increase costs, although
the demand seems to be there.
People keep phoning all the time
wondering if they are open for
dinner.
Oh yes - the tea! Lots of
selection, speed isn't the essence
and the Hoys do it the proper,
English way, warmed pot and a
rolling boil.
As the ghosts of the old feed mill
roll over in their raves.
THE OLD DAYS - The old chopping mill at Brucefield in younger
days. What had become an eyesore at a crossroads to wherever
has become a thriving destination for those in search of a spot of
tea made the proper way, with warmed pot and a rolling boil, from
the area and elsew ere.
.I
LABOUR OF LOVE - Bryan and Gaye Hoy of Bayfield aren't
getting a lot of sleep these days. Their new tea room in Brucefield
is a going and growing concem.
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A NEW LOOK - Brucefield folk hardly recognize the village's old
feed mill which has been transformed into a tea room.
FOR A CANDIDATE WITH:
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COUNCILLOR
TOWN OF SEAFORTH
TME HURON EXPOSITOR. Nt v mbar 9, 1994-3
OPEN HOTTSE
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