Stevie Wonder stuns small Stalybridge restaurant with midnight visit and £1,000 tip

Legendary singer Stevie Wonder turned up late on Sunday night at Cafe Continental, a small restaurant in Stalybridge, England. He arrived at 12:30am and, before leaving, left a £1,000 tip to be shared among the staff.

Co-owner Ryan Robinson said Wonder’s team had called to ask: “Can we all come to your restaurant in Stalybridge at 11pm on a Sunday?” Robinson said yes at once. First the band turned up, and then, at 12:30am, Wonder himself arrived.

Wonder, 76, was in Manchester with his band for the Sunday night gig at Co-op Live on his Songs in the Key of Life 50th anniversary tour. It was the penultimate night of a 13-date European leg in which he performed all 21 songs from his most celebrated album, which includes Have a Talk With God, Sir Duke, Joy Inside My Tears and Isn’t She Lovely.

Robinson said some of the musicians on the tour had already visited a few times, as they often tour with other artists. Every time, they had said Stevie might come. On Saturday the band visited again and called to say they wanted to come again with Stevie’s youngest daughter after their show in Manchester, and that Stevie might come too.

“We stayed open late for them, and then he turned up – it was all a bit mad,” Robinson said. “We normally just do a roast service on Sunday, so it was a bit of a scramble to make it all happen and ensure we had the full menu ready for them, but everybody was so lovely. Stevie is actually a really nice guy and was happy to pose for photographs and have a chat.”

Among the late-night diners was Wonder’s daughter Aisha, for whom he wrote Isn’t She Lovely when she was a newborn. Robinson said: “His daughter, his family, and his entire team are just all down-to-earth and very polite. You wouldn’t think they were these massive global superstars. I just kept looking over being like: ‘Is this actually happening?’ We’ve still not come to terms with it now!”

The superstar and his musicians dined on steak and seafood, and before leaving they gave a £1,000 tip, which was shared among staff, Robinson said. After the visit the restaurant posted on Facebook: “Surreal things happen now and again. This is one of them! Pleasure to welcome Mr Stevie Wonder to the restaurant to close off his tour!”

Robinson said he thought the band had found the restaurant on social media. “If it wasn’t for social media, they more than likely may have googled something nearby and it might have led them to the city centre,” he said. “But it’s brought them out here into the suburbs and it’s really nice to see. It’s good for the area. For a small independent business like us to receive so much traction from this … getting a major celebrity to this town itself, it does a lot.”

Cafe Continental describes itself as a neighbourhood restaurant in the heart of Stalybridge, offering a modern, day-to-night dining experience.