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Cafe - broad street

changinman1

master brummie
IN the 1980,s I used to go to a cafe on broad street on my scooter to meet mates , it was where the Hyatt is now I think , can anyone remember what it was called , it had a black cinder car park. Was it the Acropolis ??? really cant remember. A picture would be even better....cheers.:excitement:
 
hi changinman i think there used to be a cafe on broad st called the tow rope but i dont think it would have been there in the 80s...im sure someone will be able to help you though..

lyn
 
Changingman

Could you be thinking about the Rendezvous or the Appolinia (is it?). The Rendezvous I remember from the 60's but the other was after my time.

Phil
 

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The Tow Rope was there in the seventies, but I think it was on the opposite side of Broad Street to the Hyatt.
 
hi changingmn
for you and your mates it was the rendezvous and not the polinna where the ash car park was where you would have parked
your scooters ; and incidently i was a mod in my time as well ;and with te carnaby fashion ; from london as it hit brum;
the very first shop to hae te carnaby fashion as a little small shop along the aston rd north just short of the scooter and motor bike dealers
on the oppersite side of the ATV studios ; thats where i bought my fashion shop where i got my gear from ; a year or two later
old man nelsons sop conveted ther od fashioned out fitts to the carnaby fashion s at dale end; there clothes was only the forties ad fifties ;
for years just out side the front shops f the behive of albert street dale end in those days
and at the rendezvou coffee bar which gave the tow rope competition whicjh i spent alot of all nights in there as well ;
the rendezvous was run by a guy called mick the greek and family ;and they later in years openend up another joint oppersite the brum beat caven on
summer hill and later there was war going on between two greek familys ; i will say no more comments on that part ;
but it was serious troubles in its hay day beleive me ; mick the greek is stilll in bussiness supplying fish and chips shos with kabba meats and etc;
across the midlands and of brum ;today as i know him personaly and ccasinionly meet up with him at a close friends hous in sutton;
would you recall a guy called barry parker whom was well known and his wife sue from kings heath whom frequented there nightly and he was a drag artist
and wore ladies clothes he was well known across the country
any way thats where your car park would have been and i recall many time of all these scooter being parked there and at that period the only night club on broad street was the famous rum runner was the only club to be on broad street other wise you could walk across the city to the old
pink elephant night club ; on bromsgrove street and spend the night there until five or six in the morning
or trapp down to the old jig saw club at saltley gate till six oclock ; those where the days my friend ; we thought they never end ;
best wishes astonian
 
I got engaged in that coffee bar/THE RENDEZVOUS BACK IN 1960 ,one thing I remeber is the large picture on the wall of the WEMBLY LIONS Ice hockey team playing out doors in Russia.
Changingman

Could you be thinking about the Rendezvous or the Appolinia (is it?). The Rendezvous I remember from the 60's but the other was after my time.

Phil
 
I remember the cafe that you mentioned. It was opposite the Tow Rope, on the same side as ATV. I can't reember the name for sure, either. I think it may have been the Metropolis. What i do remember is that they did great hot chocolate with froth on top.
 
yes there was a musical shop just yards from the cafe and it sold drum kitts and bangos and guitars of all sorts and right next door to it was the very old BBC
studio,s which when you walked out the front door of the shop emediately there was an opening and you would have walked up the yard so to speak for the
BBC buildings ;orinional building was across the town around where the old sack of pototoes was built and the birmingham univer;
getting back to the cafe where the cafe was built orinionaly they was an antique shops like wise acros the rd on the tow rope side
was a thearaticle row of shops just beforeyou reached the tow rope it was a series of about five large shop windows all with there antiques furtiture as well ;
back to the other side two doors from the cafe there was a coin shop of old coins and war medals then another antique and then claytons
whom eventualy moved to constitution hill next to snow hill rail way station ;where they openened up special rooms up stairs to try out your guitar or try out
a drum kit ;when we moved from aston to ladywood [ king edwards rd ] my oldest brother was bought my father a drum kit from them ;
as he was lead drummer for the dyson hall boys brigade and number one boys brigade company in birmingham
he used to pratise in the atticthe old lady went barmy ; or should i say we all did ; but fair play to ron ;he could really play the drums and do a solo as well
he learnt to play from captain roberts the head of the birmingham division . he lived in albert rd next to the wash house ; by the aston park ;
is there any body else whom was in the boys brigade that went to the recording studios in brum to make a record for the boys brigade of brum
they made a marching band record on the old seventy eight plastic records in those days i would ave imagined there was a couple of companysthat attended that
session hebrought a copy home for us to play on the old grammorpone we had
as anybody still got a copy ; there was terry and ray jarratt coxies from park rd by ansells there was j lloyed these was the buglars front lead and a guy called
J latham from park lane and the drum major i cannot think of his name ; i thought i would put there names in case any body from the aston dyson hall is still knocking about on the forum or whom may know them ; have a nice day best wishes astonian;;;;;
 
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Post script follow on from previuos thread
yes orinional it was the metropoli but later changed hands of ownership and changed to rendzvuos
and shortly later the tow rope was born ; ; astonian;
 
Yes the rendezvous....im convinced it was called that....and the piccy almost confirms it. If that pic was where the Hyatt is now then thats the cafe that I remember....Thanks everyone.
 
The Acropolis, or it may have been the Metropolis used to be on the corner of Bridge Street and Broad Street in the very late 70s and most of the 80s. It was rented at night by a very nice woman of West Indian origin and the place was known among the taxi drivers as 'Elsies'.
 
hi stitch;
i am very sorry but i think it was the other way around; yes at one point it was the accro;
then it was changed to the rendevous during the seventys and eightys and it was a all nighter
and it was run by micky greeks family whom i knew very well and from time to time i see him now over at a family relation whom
lives in sutton ; and now he runs a kebab meat factory and supplies most of the fish and chip shop out lets around the country ;
and my relation is a bussiness partner with him ; and have done so for afew years now and they employ people at there premises
as i said it was like you said the accrop ; but it was before the years you said ;
have a nice day stich ; best wishes astonian ;;
 
As a frequent user of the Rum Runner, Tow Rope and Rendezvous in the mid 60's I remember no café on Broad Street called the Acropolis. By the 70's I had settled down and my night clubbing and all night café visiting times were over so I can't vouch for the 70's.

However a quick check in Kelly's tells me that in 1967 there was indeed no café on Broad St called the Acropolis and in fact the only café going by that name was on Station Rd Erdington. The 1972 edition gives the Rendezvous café at 295 Broad Street and the "APPOLONIA" café at 297. Ar that time there was no café in Birmingham called the Acropolis. Now I can't say if the Appolonia later changed it's name to the Acropolis, but I suppose it's possible.

Phil
 
Hello Phil, I could not argue about the name, but the cafe I am on about was used by a number of us cabbies, and it was on the corner on the left as you leave the city. It was before the Rum Runner and in my memory that only leaves the corner of Bridge Street. The next one was the Rum Runner, a few more appeared at later dates. I never knew tha true name of the one on the corner because we all knew it as Elsies, but as I have already stated she rented it at night and its true name was something else. Previous posts named it as Acroplis or some other Greek sounding name.
 
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