When Lucy Howe was studying catering at South East Essex College, she had a clear-cut ambition.

Lucy recalled: "Everybody else was aiming to go and work in West End restaurants or other posh places. Me, I wanted to run a traditional greasy spoon.

"It was then that I came up with the name the Shiny Spoon. When I found my cafe, that was what I was going to call it. It suggested a traditional cafe, but a clean environment."

Now Lucy's shiny dream has finally come true, with the purchase and transformation of the old Bridge Cafe, in Chase Road, Southchurch.

Both as The Bridge, and under its old name of Toni's Cafe, the eatery has been a busy part of local life since before the start of the Second World War.

Lucy said: "As soon as I saw it, I knew that it was the place I'd always wanted. It hadn't been too messed about. It still had that lovely warm 1950s feel about it.

"It harked back to the time when cafes were the heart of the community, before the fast food places arrived. We specially loved the old steam-pressure boiler"

Lucy has worked hard to keep the warmth and traditional feel of the old cafe, while removing some of the grease.

Lucy's boyfriend Richard Taylor who helped her with the refurbishment, said: "After all that time, it was a greasy spoon alright, a very, very greasy spoon."

However, having served 12 years in the Royal Navy, Richard knew a thing or two about spit and polish. The couple gave the place what may have been its first complete spring clean in 60 years.

Lucy will continue to run the Shiny Spoon as a traditional English cafe, but with the emphasis on fresh home cooking.

She said: "I cook the sort of things that Richard and I love at home - steak and kidney pie, shepherd's pie, that sort of thing. We're quite happy when we don't sell out because we get to eat the food ourselves."

Long-term customers have welcomed the new regime. Lucy said: "We could have gone for the modern cafe look, with metal chairs and that sort of thing. But instead we've basically just given it a clean coat of paint and a wider menu.

"We've also kept the old steam machine, which we still use to make the tea."

Brought to you by the Evening Echo