The Penguin Cafe

[bigal 3]

How many remember hanging around the Penguin Cafe and putting 3d in the Juke box....it was the hang out for the Bulwell teds and was used mainly by the bus drivers as it was situated in the market place next to Natwest Bank wher the 43's trolley buses turned round. Cup of tea was 3d in the mid 50,s but I cannot remember those who ran it. Can you?

[mick2me 3,033]

There afew Bulwell pics on that Trolley bus site, you might find a picture of the cafe

Search 'Trolley Bus' here

[Craig Strongman 13]

The market traders also used it, in fact, my grandfather, who had a stall on Bulwell market took me there, but, as a very small child, i was scared of the "teds" and didnt like the place!................Funny tho, ' now id sooner have teds than chavs, cant abide the tw*ts!!

[plantfit 7,580]

Wasn't sure where to post this but the Penguin used to have a few outside.

For Ashley and Scriv I know you like you're bikes, Manx Norton 350cc taken at Coventry transport museum

Rog

[Ashley 288]

Not many Manx Norton's in Bulwell! Had heard of Penguin Caff in early teens etc but never went in till later when older mate took me there on pillion, also to "Chets"? cafe on Annesley Rd Hucknall (fancied girl behind counter there, not least because she was always in seamed stockings! !yowza! Oh no, me secrets out!) Anyway this mate had been going on re fast rider Elijah Day (great name!) I expected some leather clad leader of the pack type and was disappointed to meet this what seemed like middled aged bloke (probably actually about 30?) on his bike in old army overcoat, later followed him round Ravenswood Rd corner and promptly fell off trying to keep up!

[denshaw 2,871]

There was another Cafe on Piccadilly in Bulwell run by the Donze? family, they had 2 daughters Jenny and Jackie. Anyone remember this it was opposite the Piccadilly club.

[BARRIE-M 0]

There was another Cafe on Piccadilly in Bulwell run by the Donze? family, they had 2 daughters Jenny and Jackie. Anyone remember this it was opposite the Piccadilly club.

Ireally remember the Penguin and the juke box the Penguin was next to the Olympia,it was a regular meeting place for motorcyclists a few names I remember are Mick Start Malc White Ron Hill,There were lots more but unfortunately a lot had nasty sometimes fatal accidents trying to get to Hucknall Market and back before a record finished on the jukebox

[Ashley 288]

I remember The Magpie cafe near the Adelphi in later years, was this same place? there was also a wooden hut cafe on other side of road that sold great "home made" ice cream, (similar to that sold at 7 mile house A610 near papplewick)

[Owdtite 2]

I remember The Magpie cafe near the Adelphi in later years, was this same place? there was also a wooden hut cafe on other side of road that sold great "home made" ice cream, (similar to that sold at 7 mile house A610 near papplewick)

The wooden hut cafe was at the bottom of my street Ashley, next to the Drill hall, I cant think for the life of me what it was called though, I remember the Magpie cafe next to the Adelphi as well, I used to pass both of them more or less everyday!!Its funny, I loved Bulwell when I was a Lad but my last visit in 2001 disappointed me immensley. I think David Cameron was right when he said "Broken Britain"

Owditite

[philby 21]

There was another Cafe on Piccadilly in Bulwell run by the Donze? family, they had 2 daughters Jenny and Jackie. Anyone remember this it was opposite the Piccadilly club.

i remember using this cafe in about 1981-ish when i was at henry mellish, we would leg it out of the back of the school past the old shooting range onto piccadilly to get there before it filled up with other kids from mellish.

the reason? they made the best chip cobs i had ever tasted! proper big crusty rolls !hungr!

[Ashley 288]

Yes that was the place, only went in a few times going/coming to/from the Lido, shows how good that ice cream was! actually I had posted this in wrong topic, the "was this same plce" referred to the post re The Safari Cafe

[mick2me 3,033]

The Topic was split to give Safari Cafe its own thread.

You may have replied at the same time as I was moving it.

[Ashley 288]

I did wonder,lol

[DJ360 6,721]

I used to hang around the Penguin Cafe in the early/mid 60's I knew the name Elijah Day, but he was more of a legend and belonged more to the 50s than the 60s I believe. I was 16 in 1965 and hung around there on my not so special Royal Enfield Crusader. Names I remember from that time are Everett Kirk ( Another great name!) who ISTR had a C12 and later an A10. My still very good friend Dave Cartwright who rode a 350 Ajay and then an A10. (Now riding a very posh Harley) Johnny Mills ( Now passed on I believe), who was famous for laying his Ariel 'Golden Arrow' so low around the market place that he left a white stripe from his fairing.

There was a deaf mute chap who used to turn up on a very smart Velocette. Viper? Venom? I forget the difference.

Somebody had a Square Four and another guy had an Ariel 600 Twin.

Our friend Roy Hardy used to ride to work on a BSA 150 Bantam Major, with a home made seat and expansion box and the biggest SU carb you've ever seen. Roy bought a luvverly Red 250 Dot and went scrambling on weekends. (I think the youngsters call it 'Moto Cross' now...) I have some pictures of him somewhere, racing at Teversal

My second cousin Pete Chambers, whose parents had a grocer's shop opposite the Black Horse (closed down even then) on the Coventry Road/Hempshill Lane junction, used to ride a stripped down Beeza with a ZB32 Goldie engine on the old Sankey Tip. We had great fun being dragged by Pete's bike, up the concrete pad in an old tin bath.

One of the saddest and funniest things I saw: Two chaps who I knew only by sight. One rode, I think, a C15 and the other a Tiger Cub. C15 guy passes test and buys a beautiful Super Road Rocket. Tiger Cub chap 'mithers' him all night for a ride. Road Rocket man eventually gives in but with strict instructions to 'take it easy'. Tiger cub man takes Road Rocket, with its owner on pillion slowly from the Penguin Cafe to the Youth Club, turns round and is heading back when inexplicably he winds it up, totally fails to negotiate the slight dogleg coming back to the market place and takes out a couple of bollards. In less than a minute all wreckage is hidden up the alley at the side of the Penguin, two very shaken bikers are sitting on the step trying to look casual and the police, who only live yards away on Highbury Vale are asking questions about who broke the bollards. They never found out.

I have many other memories of that area and those times.

Col

[Ashley 288]

re Velo's the viper was a 350, the venom a 500, both were "sports" versions, had a standard 500 for a week or so, didn't like it, slow and like riding a road drill! talk about vibration! had a zb500 in later years that was good up to about 80mph, one night "led the pack" from the bedstead Hucknall to log cabin, well as far as the s bend where there was a house with a red light on the roof when I felt engine start to seize, clutch in and park up till it cooled (tried to hasten such with only liquid available!) wasn't having it though so left in bushes and got lift on pillion, do you know I've totally forgotten how I got bike back! know I did though as found crankpin had snapped, also v high comp piston and drilled lightened, cam wheels etc, one of those in the know said that was ex scrambler,

[DJ360 6,721]

Good stuff!

It was all about self reliance back then.

My mate Dave Cartwright bought an ex-police black A10. It still had the recess in the tank where the radio useter go. One night, whilst he was 'competing' ( Not racing you understand.... that wouldn't be legal.. ) with a Triumph Trophy, a car pulled out from a side street, somewhere along by the Lido. He hit the car and sailed over it, rolled a bit and got away with a stiff ankle and a couple of bruises.

The Police later estimated his speed at 60+, but couldn't prove it and in any case found against the car driver for pulling out without due care.

The car and bike were both written off, and the insurers paid out to Dave and left him with the remains of his A10! Front wheel, forks, frame exhausts and tank were all useless. So. enter a very old B31 bought almost for scrap price. B31 frame pretty much identical to A10 frame.

Here's the clever bit. How to respray old B31 frame? Spraying kit wasn't easily had back then.

Solution? 'Jam Jar spray gun with nozzle fitted on top and a few tins of Belco Black cellulose etc.

Next.. how to get hold of a compressor?

Solution. Washing machine motor, mounted on a plank, driving old B31 motor.. At first we used inlet and outlet valves but it was all a bit much for the 'leccy' motor. Eventually after a bit of pratting about, we reset the valve timing, removed the pushrod from the exhaust valve and removed the main spring from the inlet, leaving just the thin inner spring. Basically got it 'two stroking'. Inlet through inlet valve and outlet through plug hole, using an old plug, drilled out and fitted with a brazed in copper pipe. Leccy motor had no trouble driving that!

A pressure vessel was obtained. It was a box shaped cast iron former back boiler from a coal fire..... That made me very nervous, as it wasn't designed to take any pressure...... We hid it in a corner, piled old sacks an stuff all over it and prayed fervently. With that set-up we got a steady spraying pressure. 70psi springs to mind as a figure but I can't really remember

So, quickly, old bike was rebuilt around new/old B31 frame. New ally sports tank, new pipes, Goldie front brake etc., and 'new' A10 was back on the road. A bit of skulduggery around frame numbers I think, but still.. A better bike than before. Result!

Dave and cousin Pete went on to respray and generally restore an Ariel 600 Twin bought by some chap for £25. Turned it into a real beauty.

Also. My first encounter with a 'Jap' bike.

Around 1965/6. Toddling along towards Cadwell park with my mate Rob. He on his C11g, me on my Enfield. We are passed by a big twin.. Bonny or summat. Fair enough. Next, another big twin... Norton or summat. OK. Then, this Orange thing... Yeeeeeeiiinnngg!!!. We looked at each other. WTF was that?

Next stop.. a Service Station/Cafe. Parked up, a Bonny, a big Norton, and a Yamaha. 250cc? YS2? Don't know now, but Jeesus H Christ it was quick.

The beginning of the end.

Col

[mick2me 3,033]

Also. My first encounter with a 'Jap' bike.

Then, this Orange thing... Yeeeeeeiiinnngg!!!. We looked at each other. WTF was that?

Thanks Col

That took me back to my first and only experience with biking. A Honda 250 Superdream around 1980.

As a fairly regular visitor to L.A. I still love to hear the Harleys on the freeways over there.

I have vague memories of British bikes sounding sommat like that?

[Ashley 288]

sprayed more than one with similar jam jar gun connected to outlet of a vacumn cleaner, did you (like us) think a genuine Rocket Gold Star had to have a goldie frame? remember more than once occasions where such a bike was classed a fake as it didn't have the "kink frame"! lol remember laughing at the likes of the square headlamp, sheet metal C72 and C92 Benly, even the CB72 was "odd" with it's funny kickstart and rev counter that went wrong way, "they'll never catch on" also said same re the CB750 when that came on scene

[mick2me 3,033]

Some images might Help with this.

It might as well be in Chinese to me?

[DJ360 6,721]

sprayed more than one with similar jam jar gun connected to outlet of a vacumn cleaner, did you (like us) think a genuine Rocket Gold Star had to have a goldie frame? remember more than once occasions where such a bike was classed a fake as it didn't have the "kink frame"! lol remember laughing at the likes of the square headlamp, sheet metal C72 and C92 Benly, even the CB72 was "odd" with it's funny kickstart and rev counter that went wrong way, "they'll never catch on" also said same re the CB750 when that came on scene

Hello Ashley,

You have me on the 'kink' frame. That's a detail too far...

On the Jap machines. I reckon they were originally designed to suit the 'Mericun' market, with the square lamps and generally 'heavy' look. Still, the first 125 Benly I saw was scarily quick. It wasn't long before the Japanese cottoned on to the European 'style' and started putting on their own rather tacky versions of round mudguards and lamps, racing style tanks etc. Not quite the genuine article, but you couldn't really argue with the performance and VFM of the jap bikes.. My first was much later. A Honda CB125 T of around 1981/2 vintage. Last year before the restriction to 12BHP at the rear wheel. Mine had a massive claimed 15BHP!

Made an excellent commuter while I was a mature student at Manchester Poly and a fun machine for the occasional solo ride back home to Nottm over the Peaks, though I was a bit saddle sore after 100 miles... It red lined at 12000rpm as I recall and wouldn't be phased by a missed gear change and a whizz up to about 15000rpm. All this is making me hanker after a bike, but I never passed my test and maybe 62 years old with a dodgy ticker etc., isn't the time to start.....

Col

[DJ360 6,721]

Thanks Col

That took me back to my first and only experience with biking. A Honda 250 Superdream around 1980.

As a fairly regular visitor to L.A. I still love to hear the Harleys on the freeways over there.

I have vague memories of British bikes sounding sommat like that?

The Yamahas were all two strokes as I recall, hence the high pitched 'Yeeeeeeiiiinnng' sound as they passed.

The Harleys would sound deep and a bit ploddy, similar to many British bikes from the classic era.

I'd have thought your 250 Dream would sound somewhere between, pretty much like any lightweight twin four stroke 250..

Generally, UK manufacturers would stick to a single cylinder for 250 CC, although Norton did the 'Jubilee', which was a 250CC Four Stroke twin, and Villiers produced a 250cc 2 stroke twin which appeared in a Royal Enfield bike and I think (memory....fading fast...) a Greeves, or Cotton trials bike of the early-mid 1960s.

The Japs introduced the concept of multi cylinder small capacity motors. E,g. Honda once had a 3, or possibly four cylinder 50cc bike at the TT. Memory fades. but it looked amazing. Italy went that route to some extent too. I remember lusting after a Benelli 'Quattro' four cylinder four stroke 250, on looks alone, about 1982.

Col

[Limey 242]

Oh, I dunno! I got back into it a couple of years ago when I lucked into a 1978 Kawasaki KZ-650. I had never ridden one of the Jap fours before - and I was amazed (and hooked). Compared to the British bikes I rode in the 60's and 70's, this was smooth, handled well and stopped too! AND - you just push a button to start it! Have since also bought a Kawi ZG1000 - you would know it as a GTR1000, her it is a C10 Concours. Great bike - fast, smooth and comfortable! I'll be riding it 200 miles to Indianapolis tomorrow to go to the MotoGP!

Oh, almost forgot - 58 years old! I'll be riding to Indy with a friend on his BMW - he is 22!

Almost forgot - over here they refer to the 1970's Jap fours as UJMs - Universal Japanese Motorcycles!

[Ashley 288]

yea, most british 250,s and less were singles, though a few were powered by the villiers 2T and later 4T twins, that Royal Enfield had the latter and the stupid name of Turbo Twin, Ariel made their own engines for the 250cc Leader, Arrow, and Goden Arrow, (another stupid name!) years before Greaves made a road bike with a 325cc 2 stroke twin, The Norton Jubliee and 350cc Navigator were 4 strokes and just about summed up everything that was wrong with british bikes then!

[DJ360 6,721]

Turbo Twin! Completely forgot that. I don't think it sold well and I don't recall ever seeing one. I couldn't agree more about the Jubilee. On 1 level it looked quite nice, but that's about all.

Frankly, most Brit bikes, especially smaller ones were hopelessly underpowered, overweight and unreliable cf the Japanese stuff, but it took the Japs a few years to get around to producing really nice looking bikes.

[jimbalou 1]

i knew elijah day very well he is actually 64 years old now in fact i had a pint with his son mick tonight!!! the bike men who used the penguin cafe in bulwell in the late fifties and early sixtys were keith thurgood, bruce simms, tony horwood ,howard whysall, arthur atter, the record running bear sung by johnny preston would be put on the juke box and each rider had to go around the market place island and down to cinderhill island ( exactly a mile each way) and back to the penguin before the record had finished playing.