When Fitzbillies closed it’s doors last summer I must have been one of the few Cambridge students who was left unmoved by it’s departure from the culinary circuit; I ate in there a couple of times and the while the cakes were okay, the service was lousy and it was hardly cheap. That, however, was the old Fitzbillies, it had gone stale and is no more. I caught up with the new owners Tim Hayward, food writer for the Guardian & FT, and his partner Alison Wright.

Why did you want to reopen Fitzbillies?

Alison Wright: We saw Stephen Fry announce that it had closed on twitter and immediately thought: we must reopen it! I grew up in Cambridge and used to cycle past past here every day on my way to [The Perse] school for probably about 10 years. It was always a bit of a treat to come into Fitzbillies, it was my Saturday treat when I was a kid. I’ve been a very enthusiastic baker for a long time but this is my first cake shop. Tim and I live in a world of food producers and restauranteurs so it seemed like the natural thing to do.

How does it feel to be in charge of such a well loved institution?

AW: I think it is a privilege, it feels like we’re in charge of a stately home, that we don’t really own Fitzbillies but we’re only looking after it; I’m sure it’ll be here after we’re gone.

Tim Hayward: We’ve been very fortunate to be able to take over such a wonderful institution and really modernise it, with a younger more enthusiastic crew and a brighter look to the place. Fitzbillies always used to have state of the art facilities so I think it really deserves to look modern, clean and new again. When we announced the takeover we were congratulated on taking over “Cambridge’s youngest institution”.

Have you made any changes to the menu, are the Chelsea Buns still the same?

AW: We’ve kept the recipes for the Chelsea Buns and most of our other favourite cakes exactly the same, we’ve even kept the same head baker, Gill Abbs who’s worked here for 39 years. In fact, we found out that Gill - although I didn’t know her at the time of course - actually made Alison’s 21st Birthday Cake. We’ve also introduced a savoury lunchtime menu with lots of pastries and classic british food. My favourite item on the new menu is called “Beef Pattie”, it’s actually based on an old recipe from 1938 we found in the cellar while we were refurbishing the restaurant.

How has the first week gone? (Was the opening a success?)

TH: We’ve been open [since the 23rd of August] and it’s been a huge success, we’re filling up the cafe at lunch and selling about 1000 Chelsea Buns a day, that means we’re using over a tonne of syrup a month! We’ve had such brilliant feedback from 90-olds-saying “it’s what it always needed” to young families saying “we’d never have come in here before but it’s great”. One of our cakes from the rediscovered 1938 menu actually moved an old lady to tears at the shear joy of delicious tastes long forgotten, (if you would like to try it, ask for a Japonaise Cake).

What is your vision for Fitzbillies?

TH: I care a lot about what’s happening in the restaurant world and I really think this is exactly the sort of thing we should be doing now; we shouldn’t be opening any more three star restaurants, we shouldn’t be doing more “fine dining” (these words were spoken with an air of derision) we have to get back to having restaurants serving good food for a reasonable price, within 200 yards of your front door; and unless places like [Fitzbillies] are rescued then that just won’t happen. Part of the reasoning behind the multi-purpose design was to let the restaurant perform a more social function, to make it a place where the student body, locals and faculties could interact. I really want this to be somewhere that everyone feels comfortable coming to.

 

Having spoken to Alison and Tim it’s clear that Fitzbillies is in good hands, their enthusiasm is as infectious as it is refreshing, they have transformed it into a modern sophisticated British cafe. Stop by now to pick up one of the gloriously sticky chelsea buns.