Former Victorian railway waiting room restored

Work on restoring the outside of the building cost £395,000

A cafe building in Cleethorpes dating from the Victorian era has benefitted from a full restoration and interior refit.

The Mermaid Cafe which is now a fish and chip shop first opened in 1874.

It was originally built as a waiting room for the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway.

The work on the exterior of the building cost £395,000 and was partly financed by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Railway Heritage Trust with the leaseholders paying for the interior of the building to be restored.

Conservation work was carried out to the Victorian cast iron framework as well as full restoration and conservation of the timber parts of the building.

The cafe was also re-roofed, and cast iron gutters and downpipes replaced.

Townscape Heritage Project Manager for North East Lincolnshire Council Carol Heidschuster said: "All of the cast iron is original from 1884, and as part of the restoration the windows have been double glazed. We had to replace all of the timber.

"With a heritage project in a resort you get early postcards as well as early images which is a real bonus".

The original livery colours of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway company were the inspiration for the new paintwork.

Charles Crawford and Craig Brown who hold the lease for the building said the interior refit was something they had wanted to do since getting Listed Building consent in 2021.

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