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Cafes in and around Birmingham

B

BobS

master brummie
Cafes.

I have just written about Frank's cafe on Heath Street and looking through all posts on the site there doesn't appear to be a lot about the cafes of Brum of which there were a lot.Me being a lorry driver I used to use loads of them,not only in Brum but all over the country.My favourite one for sausage and tomato sandwiches was the Minerva in Digbeth.They were to die for and only 1/6. O.K.it was along time ago. I have tried sos and tom all over the country but I have never tasted any that came anywhere near them.I had a friend who used to run the Last Chance on Lichfield road and I could tell a few stories about that but maybe at a later date.He also ran the Blues Cafe by the Blues ground and one in Smethwick on Rabone Lane, right next to the Star and Commercial pub.
 
the Drome cafe

The Drome cafe on Kingsbury road.How long has that place been going?
It been there as long as I can remember, and thats been a long time.
 
Warner St Cafe which was near the Flyover, all the Reps who worked for Eskimo Frozen Foods out of Heath Mill Lane met there each afternoon before knocking off, early 1960s:)
 
Cafe in Park Lane

My mum and dad owned the cafe in Park Lane. When we first moved in, it was a grocery shop. Dad expanded it into the grocery trade and eventually it was changed into a cafe. We had a variety of people coming in. Lots of people from the 'ABC' studio's, plus workers and pensioners. Mum was always frantic to get the potatoes ready on time. She always cooked a good meal with a pudding, and a large cup of steaming tea! The day seemed to be never ending - so much to do. She tells me that she still has nightmares about the potatoes!
 
Cafe in Park Lane

Hi Watton, can you tell us where about in Park Lane your parent's cafe was. I'm trying to place it and presume it must have been near Aston Cross, if you had the ATV people as customers.
 
hi watton
i,ve just picked up onyour thread about your parents
having a cafe in park lane ,which was by the aston cross
have you got a number for this cafe ,or house number
on park lane ,as i used to live along on the lichfield rd
and i remember when they first opend the studios
and the picture house before that
my auntie maud smart usedto work at the picture house
she used to smuggle me in ,so i didn,t have to pay
and one saturday afternoon after the mattnee i came out and
got myself knocked down ,
i was only thinking i was roy rogers on the back of trigger
the horse .
i was an hit and run driver in them days,
but three months later they found him ,i think that was around
the year of 1952-3 i have got a metal plate in my right leg
because he completely smashed my bone to crumble
any way nice to see you on site look foreward to finding out
where this shop was orcafe best wishes astonian
 
Park Lane cafe

This is a photo of the Park cafe on the Lichfield Road, could this be the one or is it a different cafe?
 
Postie the photo of the shop/cafe looks like shops I remembered by The Swanpool pub - proper name Swan & Mitre opposite Aston Station. The cafe Watton mentioned was in Park Lane. We must await his next posting.
 
That,s ok Sylvia, I can see how you'd get us confused with both of us being tall dark and handsome with flowing golden locks
 
Now Jerry you are trying to confuse me again, how can you and Postie be tall dark and handsome with long GOLDEN locks? If you have golden locks you can't be DARK and handsome. So you must be tall, handsome, golden haired ADONIS look alikes.
 
You're quite right, I was wearing my shades when I looked in the bathroom mirror
 
Park Lane Cafe

Jerry said:
This is a photo of the Park cafe on the Lichfield Road, could this be the one or is it a different cafe?
Click to expand...

Hi, yes the cafe which my parents had was at 260 Park Lane. It was on the same side of the road as Thompsons and the fish and chip shop. Just opposite us, there was a Ladies dress shop and a newspaper (?) shop.
I am talking about the 1960's when we had the cafe. I liked the photo posted of the other cafe on Lichfield Road. Too bad I don't have a scanner, or I could also post some photo's.


Draper; Roberts; Rutter; McCarthy; Wood.
 
hi watton
i,ve justread your thread on cafes
do you know for the love of money i cannot recall another cafe on
park lane in the sixties
and 237 park lane was an cafe and this cafe was sold to an asian
bussiness man ,from the previous owner ,
and this man was ernest jelf whom owned a chippy and a cafe next
door to each other , and if my memo , serves me right
just up from him was a little factory of some kind
then a news agent
on the oppersite sideto the jelfs cafe was the billard hall
and next to that was a chippy, which at one time ,was owned
by ernie jelf , in the early years late forties -early fifties
and he sold it to a little man ,
i believe was called cyril [ christian name ]
whom was the last person i knew whom ran it
i don,t recall there ever being another cafe on the same
side of thompsons
in fact the jelfs monopolised the aston cross area with cafes
and around aston , i have also been informed by a leading member of the
jelfs family in our society of high flyers ,
that they had all there cafes within a mile of each other in and around
aston , and the b,ham area and all the brothers never spoke to each other
at any time ,they was a secret family ,
i can only presume as to whom there father was and to what they was known for
in the legal system ,there father and his family was high judges
and they hung wiliam yarnold on there fist case at the gallows in worcestershire for murder , they also was working the b,ham courts
and i have it from someold senior detectivesof yester year of this
regarding in b,ham cases
i have got information from an old news reporter [michael grundy ]
whom sent to me a photo of william yarnold with a constable in the
dock for sentencing along with some photo copies of the prison cell
with the actual case history
as i have said i cannot place this other cafe on that end of park lane
are you sure it was not in the 70,s when they knocked down the one side of park lane .
have a nice day , best wishes astonian ,;;;
 
Last chance Cafe

Anyone remember The Last Chance Cafe on Lichfield Rd? It was towards the King Edward pub end of Lichfield Rd if my momery serves me right. Mis-spent youth or what !!!!!!!!!!!! But it was fun and about the only place we teenagers could go at the time! A gang of us would walk it down from Bromford Lane via Kingsbury Rd and Gravelly Hill before Spag Jnt was built, then bus it home on the night! Cor couldn't do that now if my life depended on it hahahaha:rolleyes:
 
cafe

hi jude
i do remember the last chance cafe indeed
it was a full of alsorts kind of people
i used to frequent it myself
would you recall a guy called cow boy ,
his name was ron worrell he used to travel with the fair
and mainly on the walzers ,always wore a red cow boy neck scarf
those were the days when aston was busy
even with the tram lines down
some rough diamonds was in there , ah
i used to live at 5/92 lichfield rd in those days just along from there
have a nice day jude . astonian ;;;;;;
 
Hi Astonian - yes ,we were really there! If memory serves me right, to one side of us lived Mrs. Manton (before she died) and to the other, a few doors along, was the butchers' shop. I don't really know who the cafe was eventually sold to. We moved to Erdington to run a bed and breakfast establishment.
 
good morning watton
yes i do belieeve you was there,
yesterday i thought long and hard and cast my
brain back into time
and i remember a little draper shop of some kind
and another one
if you walked up park lane ,going towards
the old six ways aston, and towards the old eagle
pub, and on the oppersite side to jelfs cafe
i do recall a shop changing to a cafe
and i believe it would have been in the sixties
because ernie jelf had sold the cafe to
some asian family
and that would have gave them competition
and also i must stand corrected
jelfs was 235 .237 , and not 257 as i stated
his chippie was 235 and the cafe was 237
with the catuering bussiness and the crockery hire
with the whole sale food ware house was at the
rear of these premises
also the house he owned at want time
which you went down the drive
have a nice day watton , best wishes astonian ;;;
 
I remember going into the Last Chance with my brother about 1am one night in the 60s.
We bought a cup of coffee each and sat down.
A few minutes later one of the blokes in there put a record on the juke box and him and another bloke started to dance together.
Never did finish that coffee
 
Hi Jerry, It was maybe 61/62 when I used to go there, as I recall there were all sorts in there............. but dont remember 2 guys dancing ha ha ha. I dont even know why I liked it there maybe the juke box and the guys but I thought it was cool be be there hahahaha so did my friends! I remember the biker boys that used to hang out there too, Johny Harris, Johnny Watson, and somebody with the surname Thursfield. I ended up going out with Johny Watson, he had a 650 Road Rocket (BSA) at the time!:D
 
Hi Jude
It was probably the mid or late 60s when I visited the place and then only rarely, it certainly wasn't a place for the faint hearted!
There were other cafes on the Lichfield Road at that time and one that I remember well was a Greek cafe right by the railway station.
I can't remember the name but we used to go in there often late at night and they served the best steak and chips you could ask for and the place was always packed, anybody else remember it?
 
do you recall the cafe by the railway station
on the right hand of the road going towards the aston station
on the lichfield road ,heading towardsthe aston ressor
it was the beehive , and i think you will recall it changing to the greek place youre on about
after the bee hive change hands
astonian ,;;;
 
There use to be 2 more cafes astonian , Margaretes cafe just up from the Beehive and the Miami cafe which was situated over the road from the Britannia pub :)
does anyone recall ??? ragga :redface:
 
hi ragga
you are quite right i completely forgotton those
mind you margret was more respectable was,nt it
it was more of a tea room ,
and the old miami did,nt do good for punters
the old behive was a busy hive at all time
with jack the lads hanging around in there
i did know quite afew people in there
those were the days our kid ,
best wishes astonian ,;;;;
 
Someone mentioned café's to me the other day on another thread. Over the years due to my work I have used many such establishments. Say what you might about them, where would Birmingham's workforce be without the greasy spoon café.

When you are out and about working and you fancy a cup of tea or a sarni, if you are covered in muck and dust. You don't want tablecloths and napkins. You want a greasy spoon café with its doorstep sandwiches.

The first one that comes to my mind is Fred's in Highgate Rd Sparkbrook. Fred was an institution. He was an ex navy cook who went into the café business when he was demobbed. His café was used by half the Irish roadgangs in the district they all popped in for their dinner after work and on the way to the pub. It was always on tick until the end of the week. Everybody always paid and nobody ever bilked Fred, where else would they go?

All around the walls were saucy sea side post cards sent by customers when on holiday. There were always three or four builders playing chess or draughts (I don't see how they ever got any work done).

Fred's was also the first café that I know what had an automatic tea machine. You just pushed your cup under and it filled itself. The only problem was it was an awful brew. Fred used to crack up with me because I would never drink tea, I always have coffee. Whenever I went in and asked for coffee he used to mutter I haven't got time foe this, he should drink the tea.

I have to admit that on the whole Fred's food was reasonable, and he did a very good bread pudding and his dinners were wholesome and filling, but one of Fred's failings was he got the orders wrong sometimes, if you complained and said "I didn't order this". His reply was "Shut up complaining and eat it, it won't kill you"

Phil
 
I used to work on the Litchfield Rd just a couple of shops down (towards the station) from the Domestic and opposite there was a cafe, cant think what it was called but the owner used to come in our shop to have her hair done, she always made me laugh because she had a colour on called Coffee Brown but always asked for Coco Brown every time and she had a hairstyle called the Cottage Loaf(do you remember it girls?) and she would always ask for the Bun cake. It wasn't a joke she was serious
 
IF MY MEMORY SERVES ME RIGHT WATTON ,YOUR PARENTS SHOP WAS ON THE SAME SIDE OF THE BILLARD HALL And About TWO Hundred Yards Up From Little Cyril,s Fish And Chip Shop Cyril Bought That Years Ago From Jelfs As He Had Another Fish And Chip Shop Facing Each Other ,And With There Ware housing Down The Back With A One Up And Down Little House And Next To The Fish And Chip Shop Was A Cafe Also Owned By The Jelfs Whom Sold That Cafe In Around 1955/6 To AN Asian Cosortium
That Little Shop You Refered To I Remember Distinctly Remember Being A Little Grocer Shop , And Yes They Did Try There Hand At Tutning It Into A Little Cafe
And I Thought At The Time Upon Seing What YourParents Done I Thought You May Have A Chance In Making Money Now Because MyGrand Father Jelf Had Sold The Cafe To Asian,s And They Played Asian Music And Painted The Shop Purple , And I Thought If These Camera cREWS cOME around Looking For Food And They See Your Parents Shop I Thought Yes They Will Take Over Where Grand Father Left Off Becausre Your Parents ShopLooked Good And Clean And Cheap And They Will Come Here ,
The Reason Why My Grand fATHER Sold The Shop , Was Because He Had A Rake Of Shops And My Grand mOTHER Died And She Was In Controll Of All The Finnaces Of All The Bussiness,s Grand Father When She Died He Was Going To Make Up For Lost Time
And Started Womanising He Had One Particular WomanAt His Side All The Time , The Name I Cannot Print For OBIVIOUS rEASONS aS tHIS Lady Came FromPark Lane And There Is People On Site Whom Are Related So I Cannot Commit More On That But
He Started Selling The Jelfs Propertys Off One By One To Keep And Have a Fast Life With Womem ,But Never Or Less I Can Remember Your Parents Shop On Park Lane And The One You ARE Referring TOO ,It Was Nice To Hear They Done Well At The End
From The Custom Of ATV Studios ,
Best Wishes ASTONIAN ,;;;
 
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