A chain of English tea rooms has a new staff member: a robot named Theresa.

She is the newest edition to the The Tea Terrace's Cobham branch in Surrey.

Apart from sharing a first name with the now-former British prime minister Theresa May, she also sports a grey wig.

Theresa represents the sixth generation of robotic waitresses, which were first launched in Japan a few years ago.

The Tea Terrace is owned by husband and wife Ehab and Rowena Shouly.

Theresa the robotic waitress at The Tea Terrace in Surrey, England | Image: Steve Parsons/PA Wire/PA Images

On the new robot, Mr Shouly says: "We've christened the robot Theresa in a nod to the media's nickname for former prime minister Theresa May.

"But our robot is far more intelligent than the vast majority of our British politicians, and she would easily juggle her job as a waitress at our restaurant and running the country."

"This is one staff member who we know will never call in sick, will never complain, never request a holiday, and always show up to work on time".

Former British prime minister Theresa May dances on stage to make a keynote speech at the Conservative Party annual conference in 2018 | Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA Archive/PA Images

Theresa comes with autonomous navigation, automatic obstacle avoidance, voice conversation, and automatic dish delivery.

Mr Shouly says a big advantage of using the robot - which costs almost €20,000 - is its ability to carry much heavier loads more quickly and more safely than human staff.

"We don't plan to replace our staff with robots entirely... but the idea is to help them and to make their job easier".