There is a certain amount of experimentation going on at Dolly's this week.  As you know, we use the Radio 4 Woman's Hour recipe to make our scones - if it's good enough for Jenny Murray then it's good enough for us.  However we are branching out - this week we added Lavender and Honey scones and Earl Grey and Lemon which have been embraced by our customers with great gusto.

We find many of our ideas for cakes and tapas from recipes in the Saturday and Sunday papers.  We have added Sweet Potato Gumbo to the evening menu and Holly made a fantastic Lemon Layered Cake courtesy of The Times.  Today we have made a Guinness and Chocolate Cake, which as slogan says Is Good For You.  Dolly wants to make a gold cake in celebration of our Olympic medals - gold icing????? can it be done....

Also on for the Summer are Coke Floats, Ginger Beer Floats and, oh yes, Root Beer Floats - due to popular request. It's frothy man....

Holly has been conquering here fear of ladders (it's not about heights, it's to do with gravity) and has drawn some wonderful pictures in chalk on the boards outside.  Moulin Rouge meets Absinthe (now there's an idea for a themed evening at Dolly's).

Hebe is still wearing her pearls - now in celebration of the Olympics.  Should we get her some gold beads perhaps. 

Happy Birthday Dolly's and a Roller Skating Giraffe!

This weekend will be the first anniversary of Dolly's Tea Room & Wine Bar.  We started quietly and have become noisier as the year has progressed.  Having spent the first few month worrying that no one knew we were here, we are now delighted that people are still just discovering us.  At times we have been like an out of control giraffe on roller skates, but mostly we have enjoyed the ride, and the giraffe is now able to skate in a more refined manner, except for the occasional Triple Salchow.  We have been given a lot of advice and ideas over the year, the most successful being the cocktails in teapots and the Prohibition and Blitz nights.  The piano has added a wonderful side to the bar and we love it when people have the nerve to play it.  Be it Mozart's Funeral March (thanks Emma) to The Smiths and The Cure and of course our favourite - the theme from the Muppet Show!  

We have all of our original staff (except for Nicole who left to do a PhD in cabbages, as you do), who have contributed so much to the success of the business.  Staff training is more fun than at most companies as it involves drinking wine, gin and tea and eating scones and cakes.  We have had a lot of fun - exploding chestnuts at Christmas, the Thriller dance at New Year, dancing on tables, rodding the drains - crazy times.

Obviously is has also been incredibly tough too.  Setting up a new business in a recession is never easy and being in the centre of town is not the prime position that a lot of people believe it to be.  As Mary Portas says in her report on how the revitalise the High Street, make business rates for work the businesses, local authorities should use their discretionary powers to give business rate concessions to new local businesses (and established ones for that matter) and local areas should implement free controlled parking schemes to entice more people back into the towns and not to the out of town supermarkets and retail parks where the parking is free.  If she had really done her research she would also have mentioned that having a friendly yellow Labrador wearing pearls on the premises would make people come back again and again.

Thanks to everyone who has helped us make our first year so successful.  Now for the Oscar Speech thank you's moment.....Wendy (what can I say), The Hollys (scone makers extraordinaire), Sarah, Nicole, safe hands Lillie and Vickie. Amelia (who sings like an angel), Hannah, Maddy, Mariya, Naomi, Rosa and Sharon.  Kev for the cocktails in teapots (and Robbie for drinking them), Ron from the Falmouth Bookseller for telling us what we should be doing (and Katie for keeping him under control), Paul, everyone from Amos & Penny, Fran, Adie, Adrian & Neil (wine quality control), Rupert and Adam (we haven't stopped laughing since New Year),  The Sellwood Clan, Nikki and Henrietta, Ruth (come back soon, we miss you), everyone at the Wheelhouse, Rob at the Church Street Deli, Gail, Clare and Jules (the bunting queen), and of course Hebe Dog who makes everyone smile,  and so many others who have supported us all the way.  Here's to making it through the next year

We are now VAT registered which is causing Dolly to have heart palpitations and she has taken to breathing into a brown paper bag, but on the upside this means we have had a very successful first year but on the downside means the prices at Dolly's have to reflect this. 

Now could someone please stop the rain - it is playing havoc with Gilbert the Giraffe's roller skating! 

;)

Dolly made her radio debut this week on Source FM's About You.  She had to choose six of her favourite songs and talk about herself.  We discovered she was born in the same village that the Beckhams now live in in Herts, she was very sporty at school until she discovered boys, gin and cigarettes (she gave up smoking in her 30s).  She loves Ian Dury,  but loves David Bowie and Paul Weller more - met Paul McCartney when she worked at Q Magazine, and the song that most reminds her of the bar is the theme from The Muppets (which she said is no reflection on the staff!).  She says she has to dodge the Paparazzi now when leaving the house.

Wendy went to Winterwell Festival at the weekend and spent most of it with a group of ear wigs who were also away on a camping weekend and took a fancy to her tent.  She even brought some of them back to Falmouth with her.   We thought of giving them to Sarah who loves creepy crawlies.

Hebe is still wearing her pearls - well it is now Wimbledon after all.  She has put on more weight - we think she is eating the 'don't feed the dog' signs which we put on the tables.  Happy times.......

Hebe - our USP!

When we opened Dolly’s in July 2011 we joked that Hebe the Labrador was our Unique Selling Point.  Before opening the tea room, Dolly worked at Amos & Penny Vets in Penryn and Hebe would go along to work with Dolly and sit behind reception with her friends Molly and Jack the spaniels, and she built up a long list of friends who would bring her presents and give her tummy rubs.

We decided to make Dolly’s dog-friendly and we refer to Hebe as Head of Security.  She greets customers at the top of the stairs (sometimes a little too enthusiastically), accompanies them to their table and will sit patiently with them in the hope that they will order food.  She has her own fan club.  Dolly was walking through town recently and had a pig’s ear thrust at her for Hebe!  She was even given Christmas presents from Dolly’s regulars. She loves Sam the post lady but her favourite visitor is Sandra from the butchers – no prizes for guessing why.

Unfortunately since setting up the business Hebe has gained 4kg (much to the frustration of Emma and Kelley from the vets).  Well, she is a Labrador after all.  The Hoover doesn’t get much action when Hebe is about.  We have had to put a notice on the tables asking people not to feed her but we feel her persuasion methods are not all together above board.  Although she has never been placed in ‘dog with the most appealing eyes’ at the Landerio Show we believe she is using them to her advantage.  She is not allowed at the bar on really busy nights, as it is impossible to keep tabs on her.  She has, though, on occasion visited Mango Tango and 8 Bar!

If Hebe takes any time off from the bar - she recently went to St Mawes on the ferry with her friend Ruth – there are disappointed customers.  The staff at Dolly’s are heard to say, ‘Oh she’s out at the moment and will be back around 4.’  We are aware that some people only come to Dolly’s because of Hebe.  She has even managed to convert some anti-dog people to a point of woofer toleration.  She has been wearing a strong of pearls for the last couple of weeks, in celebration of the Jubilee and now of course it is Ascot Week.....  She is very pleased with her new look and the attention she is receiving. 

If Tuesday evening is a little slow Dolly and Lillie try to find new ways of amusing themselves.  So far they have created the Tea Tree on the stairs, put up bunting for the Jubilee (at huge personal risk - but they cunningly persuaded a tall young man to help)  and this evening cleaned the Dolly's signs by hanging out of the window with a mop (which was a huge risk for anyone walking underneath).  Hebe doesn't like Lillie going up ladders and was not at all helpful with the mop and window. So come in on a Tuesday and save Dolly and Lillie from themselves!!!!

It's a fabulously sunny day in Falmouth. The perfect day for drinking a jug of pink wine, or even a glass of prosecco.  Although we don't have the on street 'frontage' at Dolly's we have gorgeous Georgian windows which look down on the street so we can people watch without being watched ourselves - although Dolly thinks the students the flats opposite may have caught her dancing to Donna Summer last week in her own personal tribute to the Disco Diva.  We have yet to see her 'throwing any shapes' to the Bee Gees but fear it is only a matter of time - especially as her partner in crime, Kev, is on Falmouth Express from Paddington.   

Dolly, Holly and Wendy attended the speakeasy cocktail night at 8 Bar on Monday.  Holly and Wendy took on the speed daiquiri challenge - there is a video somewhere yet to surface.  Luckily neither of the are at all competitive so when they didn't win (it was very close) there was no quibbling about the timings or anything like that.  The fact they could drink the daiquaris did appease the situation slightly!  The next one is tequila which would get messy.....

Well what a week it's been at Dolly's.  Tears and laughter and we have been up and down like a lady of the nights undergarments!  We have had so many lovely compliments from customers who have found us and love the Dolly's experience.  A lady today told us at great length how wonderful her scones are (she puts a whole egg in the mixture!) - and then she had to concede that ours were even better which made Holly go a bit pink and beam with pride.... Tears from Dolly's previous life at the vets when one of her favourite woofers went to doggy heaven.  She was a gorgeous little dog called Pandora and there is a very amusing story about a bit of confusion via a text message to Dolly when The Pandora caught fire.  Laughter and relief all round at the discovery that corn cushions offer instant relief (Dolly has her first ever corn which is apparently rather painful!).  And even more laughter at Holly's Old Fashioned Collapsing Chocolate Cake.  It tastes wonderful - just doesn't look like one of Jane Asher's! 

Visitors are arriving by the bus load.  Amelia's parents tomorrow, Kev and Robbie on Thursday (Kev gave us the idea of cocktails in teapots) and Sarah's parents the weekend after.  Looks like the season is about to begin.