1960s Coffee Bars


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There was a coffee bar on Ilkeston road, just up from the Boulevard pub, ( Radford blvd.corner). I think it was called " Tally  Ho" coffee bar. I remember going upstairs for a steak and chips with a fellow conductor, who I can only recall as Pat'. That must have been about 1963, before I started driving. We had both just finished a late shift up at Bilborough depot.

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Dunno about that Phil. I do know though, it was the first time I'd ever had steak and chips as a bought meal.

Obviously,  I'd had chips etc., but it was the first experience of going in a cafe/ restaurant to actually buy a meal.

Oh what a sheltered life I've led. Quite boring really. And fancy having a proper meal at 11.45 at night ! Unheard of for me.

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I never had chips until I was in my late teens/early twenties - never went to a chip shop as a child .... didn't know such places existed!   The first meal I remember buying was creamed mushrooms on toast one afternoon in an upstairs cafe somewhere in Mansfield, when I was about 18.

However, I do remember when I was very small my mum  once taking me to Lyons - upstairs with green tiles and lots of chrome is all I really remember..

As for coffee bars .... I remember the Toreador (or have I just plucked that name out of the air?)  it was like a cave with white painted walls.  Also another place run by a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot on Upper Parliament Street I think.

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Hey Margie, we could start a whole new thread here, if we're not careful. Chips and creamed mushrooms. The mushrooms used to be Chesswood, but I have only seen them in Sainsburys, by Batchelors. Remember going to the chippie at the top of Ronald street with my basin, for pie and chips with gravy. This was shared with two of my brothers. Exquisite cuisine!

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There used to a place on Broad Street called The Broadway. I remember going there once as a child for something to eat, around 1966/7, during rehearsals at the nearby Coop Arts Theatre for a dancing show. I had creamed mushrooms on toast. They were awful. Clearly tinned with a high salt content. I can't bear salt in my food. Chesswood mushrooms were awful. Don't care for very much tinned food. Too much salt.

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I just knew somebody would disagree. They were also lovely with shredded chicken, when making chicken pie.

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I am told that a cousin of mine owned or ran one of the first espresso bars in Nottingham, across from Victoria Station.  Any idea which bar this would have been?

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When I were a butchers lad, back in AD1957 there was a coffee shop on Ilkeston road just up from Garden st.

There was a cobblers on the corner then the coffee shop followed by double green grocers, then my butchers.

Next was, if memory serves me well, a wool shop/baby clothes, then a pub on the corner of Bloomsgrove st.

Used to nip in the coffee shop for tea and toast and listen to a new fangled gadget called a Jukebox ! Anybody remember the little glass cups and "Frothy Coffee". How did they make it?

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55 minutes ago, Beekay said:

When I were a butchers lad, back in AD1957 there was a coffee shop on Ilkeston road just up from Garden st.

There was a cobblers on the corner then the coffee shop followed by double green grocers, then my butchers.

 

This is part of that stretch of road. The 'double greengrocers' is behind the women and pram on the right.   

https://picturenottingham.co.uk/image-library/image-details/poster/ntgm019484/posterid/ntgm019484.html

 

Unfortunately Picture Nottingham's watermark spoils the effect a bit.

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Well done Kev. Pulled it out the bag yet again. Just shows how the memory gets fogged. The shop that says Tric services was in actual fact opposite on the other side of Ilkeston rd. It belonged to J.G.Foster known as 'Sandy'. It sold electrical fittings including table lamps, ceiling lights etc. He also did outside electrical work. The shop in your picture was part of the greengrocers double shop, ( that front door wasn't used. To the right of where the ladies are standing was an entry to the back, then it was our shop. The greengrocers was owned and run by a Jewish father and son, who I can only remember as Syd and Dick, can't remember their last names. I do know lived at Wollaton, (Arleston drive I think). Their delivery boy was a lad who was in my class at school. Often used to borrow his bike if I'd got a small delivery to make as the butcher's bike was bloody murder.

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54 minutes ago, Jill Sparrow said:

AD 1957 was a really excellent year, except now it's called CE 1957! Still an excellent year, though.

There you go! Got it wrong agen. My little sis conscience has pulled me up once more. Oh the shame, the shame.  :sorry:

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CT., Just had a look on Google maps and the shop I was on about is now a vegetable shop. It's on the corner of Albert grove, off Ilkeston road.

On the other corner was another butchers shop. Your picture shows 142-144 Ilkeston road, but I can't ever remember seeing Tric services above their window, but the info did say 1952. I worked at the butcher's from 1954-58, (Thomas Straw tel.77153).

Got an apology. The grocers names were Syd and Bill ( not Dick).

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2 hours ago, IAN FINN said:

Was the frothy coffee called expresso made from hot steamed milk?

Reckon your right Ian. Remember the Cliff Richard film Espresso Bongo ? That was set in a coffee bar, complete with little glass cups, ( more like eye baths). Coffee not to be confused with Espresso, a single shot of caffeine.

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No Jill, it never said Electric. It was just a play on words. The bloke used to have a little van that had the logo on the sides. He used to be involved with the YMCA that was on Grant Street, I used to attend for years. A small group of us kids used to pile in the back of the van and we would go weekend camping to Kingston on Soar or Watstandwell.( After school Friday and back on Sunday). My mate, John Furness used work in the shop after school and Saturdays.

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9 hours ago, The Engineer said:

I am told that a cousin of mine owned or ran one of the first espresso bars in Nottingham, across from Victoria Station.  Any idea which bar this would have been?

 

Bamboo Cafe - 157 Mansfield Road 

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13 hours ago, Beekay said:

On the other corner was another butchers shop. Your picture shows 142-144 Ilkeston road,  

 

It also shows 146 which appears to have been a cobblers - with several adverts for Redfern rubbers, whatever they were.

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It just goes to show, how the memory can decieve. Forgot the cobblers was next door, also a house in between the shops. Wonder what the shop was on the corner of Garden st.? Think there's a brief glimpse of tobacco ad. So it could have been a sweet shop/tobacconist. We were in number 140. ( Think Redfern were rubber heels, but could be wrong with that too). Thanks for the picture though CT.

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Bamboo was right up Mansfield Road, on the left ,maybe a hundred yards or so before the lights at Forest Road. Was quite trendy at the time, despite being  a wierd orange based decor. I remember it well, I met a fabulous looking girl with glasses on, there was a record playing - judy in disguise, with glasses -  whilst I was chatting her up, I went to get two more coffees and  my  mates told me stories about her that put me off. I never went back. It later turned out that they did'nt even know her and made it all up just for fun. The ba**ards !!!!

 

What might have been ?

 

That's why I've never forgotten the Bamboo, I can still see her face, but I don't know what I had for tea yesterday.......

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