The Tea Room Story

The new owner of Gibbs Hill Lighthouse Tearoom is keeping the beacon of Bermudian tradition in the family.
Heidi Cowen, whose grandfather Rudolph Howard Cowen was the last lighthouse keeper at Gibbs Hill in the 1960s, has bought the Tearoom for an undisclosed amount from Janice and Michael Burke.
Ms. Cowen, who remembers living in the lighthouse with her grandparents as a young child, said the news had not sunk in yet.
“I signed the contracts on Tuesday but I still can’t believe it, I’m so excited. I remember as a child sitting on the doorstep where the gift shop is, playing with my Barbie doll and now I own the place,” she said.
Janice and Michael Burke converted the keeper’s house into a tearoom in the early 1990s. Mrs. Burke, who used to run the Tearoom, is now said to be focusing on the other Burke business, the Blue Water Diving Company.
Meanwhile Ms. Cowen, who has been in the hospitality management industry for 12 years, is still adjusting to her lifelong ambition becoming a reality.
She said: “I have been working since I was 18 and always had a dream about buying my own place. I heard about the Lighthouse and knew it was what I wanted. It’s like coming home.
“I went in there on Saturday, sat on the couch and remembered the times with my grandparents, I just couldn’t believe that now it’s all mine.
“I love it up there; it’s so beautiful.”
Grandfather Cowen died some years ago; his father and grandfather were also keepers at the lighthouse, but Ms. Cowen said her grandmother was delighted with the purchase.
Ms. Cowen said: “We were talking about the old times the other day and how I used to take lunch up to the top of the lighthouse for my grandfather. I used to get frightened and stop halfway so my grandmother would end up taking me all the way to the top.
“She’s very pleased that I am taking it on and is already planning to come in for afternoon tea.”
Ms. Cowen who also runs Little Steps Bakery, which produces a range of special diet gluten-free cakes and breads, plans to base the bakery at the lighthouse and add a gluten-free menu for her customers.
“It will be one of the few places for people on a gluten-free diet to go for a cup of tea and a gluten-free cake or sandwich,” she said.
Ms. Cowen does not plan any immediate changes but says she has some ideas in the pipeline. She will be working every day in the Tearoom along with her two existing staff who will remain.
Barry Capuano of Capcar Enterprises who completed the deal between Ms. Cowen and the Burkes said: “It’s a lovely story, Heidi has lots of plans for the place and I’m sure she will make it a great success.”