Teardrops urgent plea to stay open after costs lead to tearoom closure

MELLOR and Black Enchanted Tea Rooms is to cease trading this Saturday due to the cost-of-living crisis, but all help is needed to try and save community charity Teardrops.

Teardrops was founded eight years ago initially to help the homeless in St Helens, eventually changing to help all in need in our town, becoming a vital bridge to what other charities and food banks offer to those at crisis point.

As a way to be more sustainable, in September 2023, using legacy money left to the charity, Teardrops founded Mellor and Black Enchanted Tea Rooms and an upcycling furniture business called Made Up inside the downstairs of the former Ena Shaws building.

The intention was funds garnered from these businesses would go back into Teardrops – however due to rising costs and the cost-of-living crisis, the charity has been left with a horrible situation and will close the two businesses on Saturday, June 1 following a fundraiser to try and save the charity.

Teardrops manager Nick Dyer and Teardrops co-founder Denise Kelly spoke with the Star ahead of the announcement.

They said: “It’s been an absolutely horrible day having to tell the staff [at Mellor and Black and Made Up] but the facts are that after a great few months initially, the lack of footfall and rising costs have led to us incurring a deficit which means we cannot continue.

"We have had the full backing of our landlords to help Teardrops during this difficult time but we are down by 70 per cent on the amount of people through the door – we had contingencies in place for the odd month but it's just been too much and that coupled with the rent, utilities and staff wages means we’ve now got a black hole we need to fill.

“But we are in real danger of having to close Teardrops as well in a months’ time if we can’t get funds to pay the deficit and for vital funds for upcoming bills.”

Teardrops as a charity offer advice and support to those in crisis and at risk of or are homelessness in St Helens. They also run a night café three nights a week feeding those in need and support people five days a week with benefit and housing advice. They also offer food parcels to vulnerable adults and children in St Helens – often those who may not qualify from elsewhere. They also organise events to give back including a recent prom wear event where those in need could take promwear for no cost.

However this essential charity is now at risk.

Nick added: “In Teardrops the electricity and gas bill was £300 for a month, most recently our bill for one single month was £1,700.

“The increase in minimum wage meant we have to of course increase the pay for our staff that are essential for helping people in crisis, but that means we have to find that extra money, on top of rising costs, and during it all we’ve kept supporting the community, we haven’t stopped because we don’t want to let people down.”

Denise added: “For eight years Teardrops has helped St Helens and we are so proud of that and its helped thousands of people.

“Closing Mellors and Made Up means 10 staff losing their jobs, but in order for us to save the charity and saving another 10 jobs we need to raise as much as possible.

“Our staff are so amazing that even the ones told they no longer have a job have offered to work at our fun day this Saturday to raise funds to save Teardrops. They know we can’t pay them.

“This charity is for the community.”

Nick added: “People are struggling in this cost of living crisis, Teardrops is no different and we help those at breaking point so we don’t want to let anyone down.

“There’s 170,000 people in St Helens, and we have helped loads of people, if everyone who could just paid £1 it really could make the difference in saving Teardrops.”

The official statement from Teardrops: 

"It’s with a heavy and broken-hearted sadness that Teardrops has to announce the closure of Mellor & Black Enchanted Tea Gardens and Made Up Furniture Store. These ventures were started with the help of a significant donation made by the Mellor/Black family. This money was used to try to help make the charity in its entirety self-sustainable.

"Sadly, we couldn’t open as quickly as we needed due to the renovations needed and we relied on public donations and businesses to support us for  which we are truly grateful for.

"Teardrops started in 2016 following a mother and daughter who came across a starving, homeless man when taking a trip to McDonalds on a wet and windy night. They identified that St Helens had no provision for our homeless to get food and a hot drink during the evenings.

"They asked friends and family members to help them take sandwiches and hot drinks around the streets to feed our most vulnerable. They then took their dream and made it a reality. The charity grew and funding allowed them to rent the hub on Crab Street, our homeless, sofa surfers and those who are vulnerable then had a safe space to come and make friends, get a warm meal and seek advice and support if and when needed.

"Over time the charity has grown and with the support of the lovely people of St Helens and with their kind donations we expanded, changing our aim to helping the community during covid after identifying the greater need during a terrifying time. As we grew so did our staff team and thanks to independent funders, we were able to start our Prevention Team in December 2020.

"Our Prevention Team offers an advice and support service to the people of St Helens. This includes, emotional support, benefits advice, completing forms, housing, signposting to other agencies and attending appointments to name a few. To date they have helped 1039 people with direct help and support, over 80% of these cases when people were in crisis and around 88% of these had mental health needs. This year we have helped 32 people find suitable accommodation.

Some of the issues we have helped includes a young homeless lad who was going through cancer treatment, he was supported emotionally, helped to get emergency accommodation, his benefits were sorted and he received long term intervention to get him in his own home.

 Our hub predominantly helps those who are homeless, sofa surfing, living in hostels and those who have previously lived on the streets but experiencing poverty. We help approximately 65 to 80 people per day with hot meals, food and essential items to help those on the streets survive.

Every year we hold a Christmas toy and hamper appeal to ensure that every child gets a toy to open on Christmas day and individuals and families get a four day food package to help them over what they describe as an ‘expensive and stressful time.’ Since opening we have helped people and families with over 3100 hampers and 4800 gifts.

Our Prom initiative which helps provide those less fortunate the opportunity to attend prom has been successful for the past few years and we have helped over 50 children attend their prom so far.

"We are a vital service to the town not just to those who are homeless but to those in our wider community.

"The staff and volunteers of Teardrops are devastated that we are now in this position, it isn’t just a job to them, it’s a passion and a vocation.

"They clearly came to work with the aim to support those most vulnerable in our community.

"We have 48 of the best volunteers in St Helens who have dedicated their time into helping others and we can never thank them enough for all their help and support. Without them, we couldn’t have helped the people we have over the years.

"We are appealing to the public as a last ditch attempt to help …"

To donate to the fundraising page in a bid to save Teardrops, go to gofundme.com/f/save-teardrops-from-closure