Orkney Image Library

My parents house, 'Seaview' now stands on this spot at the Bay of Skaill, which is past the toilets but below St Peters Kirk. No one can seem to remember it very well, but there is talk that it was damaged in a storm but eventually replaced with yet a newer tearoom - not sure of year yet!

I was told that the Beach Bungalow Tearoom was at Scapa Beach.

The cliffs above the roof of the car would nearly look to be to high for the shoreline at St Peters Kirk at Skaill, and would tend to look more the like the cliffs below Scapa Distillery. Only problem with that theory is where along the Scapa shore could this have been, to get a house between the road and the shore. Unless it was at the west corner just below the distillery.

The jury is out on this one at present.

Definitely not the Scapa tea room built in the thirties, well after Tom Kent's time. Belonged to Mrs Shearer. Bought many a bag of sweeties there.

Tom Scott

Just a wild guess, but could this be on South Ronaldsay - on the stretch of A961 leading in to St Margarets Hope?

I keep coming back to this photo. It was the credit to Tom Kent that put me off but as he died in 1936 it is possible that the building was there in his time. I am now more convinced that it could be the Scapa Cafe owned by Mr & Mrs Shearer and that could be Mrs Shearer in the doorway. The car could have been Tom Kent's taxi. I don't remember a hut being at the east end of the cafe but after seventy odd years memory gets a bit fuzzy. The area of ground between the road and the beach was considerably wider than it is now, and belonged to Upper Scapa.
There was a lot of change in Scapa beach afer the Churchill Barriers were constructed. Not nearly so much sand now and a lot of erosion. The Shearers got permission from Robert Twatt of Upper Scapa to build the cafe there and only occupied it during the summer months. Mr Shearer, nicknamed Peeler (don't ask me why), worked for The Orcadian, I don't know in what capacity. He cycled to work every day. He liked a dram and when Missus went to town he took advantage and this was a good time for us kids to go for our pennyworth of favourite sweets - the measure was better than normal! He was quite astute, on one occasion an old practice torpedo was washed up on the beach below the cafe. He put a rope on it and a peg above high water mark and claimed the salvage.
If you look at the Tom Kent photo on page 56 of Shoal & Sheaf the cafe would have been built where hidden by the horses and in the page 57 photo just off the picture on the left. I'll scan the two photos and offer them.
Tom Scott 11 December 2007.

The hut at the side of the building was occupied by a Mr Brown. He suffered from TB and stayed in this hut to be near the sea air. I was told this by Tom Foubister who stayed at Scapa many years ago- he used to buy his sweets from the cafe.

Brown did have a hut near the cafe but it was not as near as this garden shed and was much bigger. You are right to say he suffered from TB. His parents provided the hut hoping the fresh air at Scapa beach would be curative. Boy, could it be fresh! I lived in Nether Scapa while Tom Foubister, my pal, lived in Lower Scapa.

Its not skaill anyway