CHARLES Rennie Mackintosh enthusiasts from all over the world are being urged to help save the architect’s last surviving tearoom from permanent closure.
Caitlin Divers, Operations Manager at The Mackintosh at the Willow on Sauchiehall Street said it is unclear if the tearooms will be able to reopen due to heavy financial losses incurred after major fires in the area and now the pandemic lockdown.
The tearooms recently underwent a £10million restoration adding a shop and exhibition space and were reopened two years ago by the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall.
READ MORE: Mackintosh, the clerk's son from Glasgow who became one of the world's most celebrated architects
The manager said government support has allowed the cafe to furlough all 50 staff but says the financial challenges of maintaining a heritage building and supporting wages may prove too difficult after a succession of blows.
A crowdfunder has been launched to help the businesses stay afloat.
She said: “We didn’t really feel as if we had any choice.
“Even with the government support we need income and we need it quickly. It’s a Glasgow institution and we’ve gone through a lot to get it restored.
“The situation is that we don’t know if we will be able to reopen.
“We were really on the right track. We had suffered a bit in the first year we reopened due to the fire on Sauchiehall Street, so that set the business back a year.
“We had worked really hard to get us back in a good position. Our bookings were up, we had a lot of travel trade booked in – people from all the world were booked in to come and enjoy the experience.
READ MORE: Glasgow's Willow Tearooms wins top award
“We’ve gone straight from low season to nothing at all. This is the only surviving Mackintosh tearoom that’s left. It’s the hub of Mackintosh in the city centre.
“Glasgow can’t afford to lose any more of its Mackintosh buildings. It’s a huge part of Scotland’s heritage and we really feel it needs to be protected.
“We do a lot of work in the community, we bring in schools and we share the story of Scotland’s heritage, not just about Mackintosh but Kate Cranston, who was recognised on the £20 bank note.
“We are a social enterprise and the staff are really at the core of what we do. “We employ more than 50 staff peak season and we don’t want to lost anyone.”
The Willow is regarded as Mackintosh’s most complete interior design and was designed with his wife Margaret Macdonald. The tearooms first opened in Glasgow over 100 years ago, after The Willow Tea Rooms Trust threw years of hard work into revamping the Mackintosh building after it fell into a state of disrepair.
They were run by Kate Cranston, one of Scotland’s earliest female entrepreneurs.
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