In the novel After the Funeral, the Willow Tree Teashop had been run by Miss Gilchrist. The china had a blue willow pattern. During the war, supplies had been cut down and the place went bankrupt and Miss had to close down. Mr Entwhistle observed that the Willow Tree to Miss Gilchrist was "a Spiritual Home – a lady-like tea-shop of Ye Olde Worlde variety with a suitable genteel clientèle. There must ... be large numbers of Miss Gilchrists all over the country."
In ITV's 2006 adaptation of the novel, which is set in the 1930s, Miss Gilchrist gives a different reason for the closure. A rival establishment, a tea shop from J. Lyons and Co. set up near by and took her business away.