Huddersfield brothers announce plans to open chain of luxury tea rooms across UK

Two Huddersfield brothers are aiming to open 100 further CREAMS British Luxury stores throughout the UK in the next five years.

Teyeb and Unzar Aleem invested £350k in the refurbishment and reopening of CREAMS British Luxury in Leeds city centre in 2015.

The duo came up with the concept for the high street luxury tea room back in 2012 and, having refined it following the initial launch of its Leeds venue, are now rolling out a franchise scheme across the UK.

In addition to the relaunch of Leeds, the brand has established four new stores this year in Bolton, Derby, Canterbury and Bluewater in Kent, which opened this week following an investment of £400k.

Further venues are to be opened in Livingston and in two central London locations later in the year.

Having created 70 jobs to date, the Aleem brothers are aiming to create another 300 jobs within the next two years.

Teyeb Aleem, operations director, said: “There’s a big gap in the high street market for a high quality, high class tea room aimed at the thousands of aspirational millennials seeking to replicate the sophisticated lifestyles of the celebrities they see on TV and online, and follow on social media.

“CREAMS British Luxury aims to fill this gap and do it in a fashion that ensures young people can savour a taste of the celebrity high life without having to venture outside their local city centre or shopping centre.”

In order to turn their concept into reality, the Aleem brothers appointed former Cash Converters CEO and franchise expert, Mark Lemmon on a consultative basis, and together they have developed a franchise programme that is now being rolled out across the country.

Unzar Aleem, managing director, added: “We believe we now have the perfect offer to entice new franchisees, which combines perfectly with a 5,000 sq. ft. facility in Leeds, where we manufacture all of our cakes, macarons, confectionary and savouries, meaning we retain absolute control over the quality of goods being sold by CREAMS.”

The Aleem brothers have also carried out market research and say there is demand for venues and CREAMS British Luxury branded products in various international markets, most notably India and the Middle East.

Teyeb explained: “The demand for quintessentially British products in overseas markets is incredibly high and CREAMS ticks all the boxes. Incredibly we’ve taken orders from 28 different countries for branded products without doing anything more than setting up an online retail site.

“With good marketing and local venues those who manage to secure an international franchise will undoubtedly reap the benefits of the worldwide love of British teas.”

Unzar concluded: “CREAMS British Luxury can do for the traditional afternoon teas what Starbucks has done for coffee. We really are that confident.”