‘So lovely’: Stevie Wonder surprises Stalybridge restaurant with late-night visit and £1,000 tip

Singer, 76, was in Manchester with his band for penultimate UK show of his Songs in the Key of Life anniversary tour

When Stevie Wonder’s team just called to say: “Can we all come to your restaurant in Stalybridge at 11pm on a Sunday?” Ryan Robinson, of course, said yes.

First the band turned up, and then – at 12.30am – the man himself arrived. Hours later, staff at the Cafe Continental were sharing a £1,000 tip.

It was, the co-owner admitted, “all a bit mad”, as he praised Wonder as someone who was happy to chat to everybody, and the team around him as down to earth and extremely polite.

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 of the tour in which Wonder 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 told the Manchester Evening News that some of the musicians on the tour had already been in a few times, “as they often tour with other artists”.

“Every time they’ve visited, they’ve been like: ‘Stevie might come’, and we were always just thinking that it would be amazing but we never expected anything from it.

“His band visited again on Saturday and then we got the call to say they wanted to come again with Stevie’s youngest daughter after their show in Manchester, and they said again that Stevie might come. We stayed open late for them, and then he turned up – it was all a bit mad!

“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!”

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

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 told the BBC. “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.”