More than 80 years ago young Swiss confectioner Frederick Belmont opened the first Bettys Café Tea Rooms in Harrogate.

Today Bettys remains a family business owned by Frederick's descendants, and the business stays true to his principle that everything should be fresh and dainty' and if we want things just right, we have to do them ourselves.' Bettys Café Tea Rooms in Ilkley was originally one of the Kiosk Cafes, owned by the Taylor family, which opened more than 100 years ago.

A make-over last year added banquette seating, marble-topped tables, hand-painted lamps and wall-to-wall mirrors, and taking pride of place are the stained glass windows depicting Yorkshire motifs and hunting scenes. The carpeting was inspired by the cherry and almond decorations on Bettys' fruit cakes!

Catering manager Jay Pearson, 25, describes it as "both a continental café and a very English tea room."

"The first two generations of the family business were Swiss-born, while the current third generation is thoroughly Yorkshire.' Our Yorkshire specialities include Bettys Yorkshire Rarebit made with Theakston's Yorkshire Ale and our famous Fat Rascals. And from Switzerland, our dishes include a rosti, a traditional speciality made with grated potato and Gruyere cheese mixed with cream," says Jay.

"Dishes are prepared to order the traditional way, with no short cuts or microwaves. It may take a little longer to serve, but customers' orders are freshly made."

Bread, cakes, pastries and chocolates are made at Bettys Craft Bakery and teas and coffees are bought, imported and blended through sister company Taylors of Harrogate.

There's nothing quite like afternoon tea and Bettys offers the quintessential English tea shop experience.

"Customers leave the real world behind and enjoy a sense of occasion that we usually associate with times gone by," says Jay. "We offer elegant surroundings, good old-fashioned customer service and fresh food, locally-sourced wherever possible. With such a rich food and farming heritage in Yorkshire it makes sense to buy locally."

The café has just started serving a strawberry cream tea, with Yorkshire strawberries and clotted cream.

"Seasonal menus change every three months and we look at the main menu twice a year," says Jay, whose favourite Bettys dish is chicken breast wrapped in basil and air-dried ham.

He started working there "to earn pocket money when still at school."

"I enjoyed it so much I decided to join full-time as soon as I could. I began my career loading and unloading the dishwasher but, through our in-house training, I've worked my way up over the last eight years. I'd not even peeled a carrot before I started work here but my parents are real foodies and I share the same passion.

"My job is overseeing food production, ordering, stock-taking, leading staff appraisals and training. Along with other Bettys catering managers, I contribute new ideas for menus and we all visit Bettys Cookery School for training on upcoming seasonal specialities. I'm really proud to have this responsibility at my age."

The coming of railways and the building of hydros made Ilkley fashionable and from 1905 there were two Taylors premises on The Grove. The Kiosk Café was male-oriented, resembling London coffee houses, while the Café Imperial was aimed at the ladies taking the cure' in the spa town. Bettys bought Taylors's business in 1962 and later opened it as Bettys Café Tea Rooms.

Today there are six Bettys tea rooms across Yorkshire.