To Toast or not to Toast?

Planning ahead to Christmas Day this year, my wife has decided that we should forgo the usual smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for our breakfast and instead go for the more "fun" boiled egg and soldiers, although the debate on whether soldiers should be toasted or not will rage until the last minute no doubt.
None of this could happen though without egg cups, yes it surprised us too that we didn't have any, and where is the only place you think of when you need something kitcheney? Mottrams of course!
Situated on the Pantiles in one of the oldest buildings (constructed around 1700, it has had incarnations as a tavern, a grocers, a seed merchants and an antiques shop) Mottrams is a cooks paradise, with every conceivable object you can think of to do with cooking, there are literally thousands and thousands of products crammed into every nook and cranny.
Opened 30 years ago, the building has retained many of its fantastic original features, including a sack-loading door on the first-floor balcony and with a noise that had us wondering whether the roof was caving in, a dumb waiter transports goods from the cellars. At first glance Mottrams looks like two separate shops, but they have cleverly combined the cookware shop to the crockery and glassware shop with a small flight of steps.
The crest on the front of the shop dating from 1706 belongs to the grocers that inhabited the building and Mr Hughes the grocer is also responsible for the beautiful stained glass inside.
Mottrams is one of those shops that people travel from miles around to visit and purchase anything from a china white egg-cup to a jelly mould in the shape of an egg-cup (possibly) to the latest top-of-the-range espresso machines (please can I have one for Christmas Santa?), tourists and locals alike cannot possibly walk past without having a rummage around, most leaving with those all-too-familiar yellow bags.
If you do visit this week, please take notice of the almost missable piece of paper stuck to the door, and you will be saddened to read the news of the recent passing of Trevor Mottram. His name will live for a long long time in the wonderful store that bears his mark.

Comments

[Joe Hyam]

I'd love to tell you about the village. Give us a ring. I'm in the phone book. Joe Hyam