AN HISTORIC railway cafe in East Yorkshire has closed its doors for the last time.

Following the closure of the Station Buffet and Refreshment Rooms at Bridlington Railway Station, fixtures, fittings and the huge collection of railway memorabilia that adorned the walls of the cafe will go under the hammer in an auction at Spicers Exchange Saleroom in Driffield.

Initial thoughts are that the auction will likely raise between £30,000 to £40,000.

The Station Buffet retained many of the original features from when it opened in 1925.

It was just one of two completely original railway station buffets surviving in the entire country, along with the one at Stalybridge near Manchester.

The cafe is closing as its owner, Bridlington businessman John Sadler, who bought the establishment almost 20 years ago, is retiring.

Rail development specialist David Walford said: “It was great to walk into what was effectively a living museum but its place in a 21st-century transport system was questionable.

The station refreshment rooms were created for a different era and it is quite remarkable that John and others kept them going for so long.”

The auction at Spicers Exchange Saleroom in Driffield, owned by Spicers Auctioneers, will take place on February 14.

The massive collection of railway memorabilia apparently started with just a single modern sculpture of a railwayman but went on to include railway treasures of every imaginable description, dating back as far as the Victorian period.

They include locomotive nameplates, locomotive number plates, rolling stock plates, shed number discs, station signs, trackside signage and enamel advertising signs.