Meet the family who’ve turned a historic Wirral railway landmark into a unique café

It was a chance cycle ride along the Wirral Way seven years ago which resulted in the one of the region’s most unique family-run cafes, The Station Master’s House.

Sue Thomas was passing by the historic former Hadlow Road Station in Willaston and spotted a sign being placed in the empty former Station Master’s House.

She discovered the Grade II listed building was available to lease and that was where the idea for the Station Master’s House coffee house and kitchen began.

The café is now co-owned by 28-year-old daughter Emily and Emily’s dad Mark. Sue runs the takeaway hatch, and Emily’s sister Eva works there during university holidays. 

Inside, the building has been lovingly restored in keeping with its past, and outside there are tables on the old railway platform next to the disused track where customers can sit and imagine a bygone age of steam.

Emily said:

“We get so many people who come here when they’re on the Wirral Way, either walking or cycling, and also lots of local history or train enthusiasts,”

“They often come because they’ve got a personal connection to the railway so it’s really lovely that people are able to have that shared interest in our local community.”

Emily has a background in hospitality, in restaurant and hotel management, but hadn’t been considering a business of her own until her mum’s fateful afternoon cycle.

She added:

“My mum and her friend had always said the old Station Master’s House would make a fantastic café and they’d love to be able to stop here for a coffee. 

“When they saw the lady from the council putting the for lease sign in the window, they asked to go in and look around, and got the information on how to apply.

“That was in 2018, but then having won it we had to get planning permission – we ended up extending the building to put a kitchen in – and it’s Grade II listed so we had to liaise with the council conservation department as well as planning.

“It took about 18 months before we got permission and that was really bad timing with Covid. Our builders started two weeks before lockdown and then everything got put on hold. Even when they started work again they couldn’t get the materials because what we needed was quite specific, and the prices all went up.”

As the wait to open went on, Emily and her family decided to take matters into their own hands.

Emily said:

“I’d given up my job because we kept thinking it was imminent, so in February 2021 we ended up buying a coffee trike and we did a pop-up four days a week on the platform doing coffee, cakes and snacks. 

“It was actually great because it enabled us to gain a customer base and it became a popular meeting point because we were still in semi-lockdown. It was a really nice way to start and get involved with the community even before we could open.”

The Station Master’s House did finally open its doors in December 2021, with an old garage building at the back converted into a takeaway hatch so they could carry on catering for passing walkers, dog walkers and cyclists.

She said:

“When we took the building on, it did need a lot doing to it. It wasn’t in a fit state to be opened as a café and the layout didn’t work. 

“It dates back to 1866 and as far as we know they closed the line to the public in the ‘50s, but continued to use it for heavy goods.

“That ran until the late ‘60s, then Wirral Country Park took over and created the Wirral Way. Once the station closed down, Wirral Way rangers used the house and just before we took it on it had been used as offices for the rangers. 

“It had been empty for about a year when we got the lease and a lot of the history had been taken out. It took a lot of work to restore it, putting features back in keeping with the era, but it’s been nice to be able to keep that history and put back the character and the charm that once was.”

The Station Master’s House café prides itself on serving homemade produce using local suppliers wherever possible and baking most of its cakes in-house.

With regular wine tasting events in its courtyard, it’s become an attraction in its own right, sitting alongside other reminders of the area’s railway history.

Emily explains:

“Friends of Hadlow Station started before we opened the café, they’re all volunteers and they raise money to preserve the rest of the station so we have a museum next door which has lots of artefacts and the original ticket office. 

“They’ve put so much time and energy into making the station what it is today and we’re so lucky to have them because without them it wouldn’t be what it is now.”

For more information, head to the Station Master’s House website.

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