The Mad Hatter cafe was the brain child of Nicholas Saxon. Nick was born and bred in Stockport near Manchester and in his later life he embarked upon a martial arts training session in catering. He now has over a decade of catering experience under his belt carved out at exotic culinary vistas and tropical backgrounds from across the whole wide world - including Japan!

On completing his grueling esoteric study of relationships between taste bud, fodder, health and shamanism he decided to invest his vast wacky energy into creating an eccentric cafe that would cater for the eccentric people of Brighton & Hove.

And so it was that The Mad Hatter Cafe opened in 1999 and since then has been a raging success, filling people's bellies with nutritious food and filling people's souls, with well... firey confusion and mirth. So much so people keep coming back for more.

The Mad Hatter Cafe is 'partly' named after the Mad Hatter's tea party in Lewis Carol's Alice in Wonderland. The Mad Hatter Cafe aims to recreate the genuine beauty that is found in the essence of madness and convert it into a culinary experience. The theme runs throughout the menu, and when you go in the cafe and look closely at the menu boards you can actually see Alice looking foxy in a checked skirt. The quintessential essence of the cafe was much easier to ascertain a couple of years ago when the cafe was legally selling magic mushrooms - however the law changed and these can no longer be sold.

Now then, a phrase that is commonly used in England to describe someone who's a bit loopy, or just having a 'funny turn' is, "he/she is as mad as a hatter!". The origin of this phrase predates the book, Alice in Wonderland, and is probably the inspiration for the scene in it of the Mad Hatter's tea party. The phrase was brought in to existence in the mid 18th century, started by the folk of Stockport, near Manchester in England. (which is the very same town that Nick was Born and bred!)

Back in the 18th Century top-hats were all the fashion for the English gent and stockport was renowned for its hat factories. Hatters as they were known were the people who made the hats. Part of the hat making process included inserting a metal rim around the base of the top hat to ensure the hat kept its correct shape. The rim was made out of mercury.

Now mercury is a rather poisonous metal, and the regulations for safety during that time were not very up-to-scratch. In fact very little was known about the effects of mercury. So these hatters would work away inserting the metal rim in to hundreds upon hundreds of hats with their bare hands blissfully unaware that they were steadily being poisoned.

The effect of mercury poisoning is quite pronounced and when enough of it gets in to the blood stream it can cause problems with the noggin', or brain as some people call it. The brain ceases to function properly and in short the person becomes completely mad, uncontrollable and downright stupid. Worthy of being sanctioned on a sunny sunday afternoon, should one be able to catch hold of him as his uncontrollable legs run around imitating his new found imagined kippers who he happens to think are his friends - despite the fact it's sunny Sunday and the kippers are nothing more than a figment of his warped imagination, besides snow doesn't fall on the Pennies said the mole. Ahem, in short, the hatters simply went stark ravingly insane.

At the time people didn't know it was mercury that was making these hatters mad, and the people of Stockport would look on every now and again as another hatter was ejected from the hat factory, and assigned to the nearest loony bin - or burnt for being a loopy witch type person. And so the phrase... "as mad as a hatter!"

 

February 2006 saw a seismic shift in the fortunes of the Mad Hatter Cafe. Nick, the creator of the cafe, had a vision (probably whilst intoxicated on some strange substance) and suddenly sold the cafe to a small Iranian family, who seem very nice. The staff were left in shock, their parental nurturer and culinary martial artist had decided to up sticks and go walk about.

The name of the cafe remains the same, the staff remain as bonkers and lovely as ever and the food is just as tasty. And they might be thinking of using Nuclear energy to power the ovens! (only joking).

Meanwhile, Nick, the original Mad Hatter has been whirring away following his vision in a search led by the stirrings of the collective unconsciousness. He has acquired a Massive Dildo Shaped Caravan and, as you read, it is being kitted out, filled up and vitalised with his culinary martial arts energy. His caravan is the new Steely Dan! So keep your eyes peeled as the Mad Hatter goes on the road - coming to a place near you, shaking you up with vibrations of energy that will make you orgasm into the next level of awakening. It will also sell spirulina detox shakes.

The tour begins soon. More details coming shortly. Stay tuned.