The British Shoppe owners, Barbara and John Jago-Ford, moved to the US from England in 1981. A few years later Barbara had an idea to start up a business selling British foods and gifts. Pictured to the right Amy, Barbara and John Jago-Ford.

"It just seemed like the natural thing to do. My parents had owned various businesses in England and I felt that there was a local market for British goodies. Very soon we began to get enquiries from outside of Madison, CT and so we went into the mail order business too!" 

Barbara, who had been a bi-lingual secretary in Europe, then had another idea;

"Adding a tearoom was really a natural extension to our business. I have always enjoyed cooking, baking and being creative in the kitchen. With all these wonderful British food ingredients at hand I knew that we could offer something that our customers would really enjoy."

So The British Shoppe moved into their existing premises and the Front Parlour Tea Room was born.

John Jago-Ford, who had spent 25 years in the Royal Navy as an avionics electrical engineer, joined the business and things started to blossom.

"We soon realized that our market wasn't just the British community, but also the Americans who had either visited the UK or Anglophiles who enjoy all things British. They all shared one thing in common; their need of a reliable source for their favourite British foods and teas."

And the business has naturally progressed from there, John continues;

"In 1995 I was approached to put The British Shoppe onto the web. We didn't know at the time what an impact this would have on our reach and the sales that we would generate. Our web site has been a great asset and by closely watching the customer feedback we have been able to add many new lines. An example of this is our fresh British cheeses. We received so many requests we knew that we had to find some special cheeses for our customers."

Today The Front Parlour is a successful combination of the tea room, shop and mail order in which the whole family are involved. In the Front Parlour tea room, serving luncheon and afternoon teas, is Barbara and John's daughter, Amy, who 'volunteers' to help out. The shop has been expanded to include British gifts as well as specialty foods and the mail order catalog is now online too! At The Front Parlour customer service and satisfaction will always remain the # 1 priority.

Update 2007: Please note we have sold the The Front Parlour Tearoom and now operate our store in Orlando and our online wholesale and retail businesses.


Links to our The British Shoppe online store and Rather Jolly wholesale branch.