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Cafes in and around Birmingham

The Spiders Web cafe in Smethwick. What a great meeting place. Did anyone else go there?
 
I remember the Last Chance well, one of the only all nighters open. Also the Bird Cage near slade road, rough or what. First time i had Bombay duck.
 
I think I remember one called the Greasy Spoon on the corner of Rocky Lane & Stretton Road. Barry.
 
Every time I smell warm steralised milk I think of the wooden cafe at Bearwood Bus Station, which always had that smell in and nearby it! i think they made their coffee with hot stera!
 
Does anyone remember the cafe in Cornwall St? It was sandwiched between the office blocks and I only found it because I went to work next door to it...
Always did great sos & toms.
When I started to work for the MEB the chap I was with took me first to the cafe on the Pershore Rd between the Breedon Cross pub and Francis Rd, they were the ones to introduce me to the sos & toms! after finishing the days work the paperwork was done at the cafe at the bottom of Dads Lane., there was a cafe around the corner on the Pershore Rd, and the one in Bournville Lane just before the railway bridge.....and yes we did get the days work done inbetween,Every once in a while a Foreman would tour the cafes taking the registration Nos of the vans then you had to go to the office and prove that you had done your workload for the day, if not a reprimand!
Ever since that time I always test a new cafe with a sos & tom...
 
HI all does anybody remember wraggs cafe on summerlane then moved to corner of hanley st and cecil st just down the road . I used to get thick pieces of toast from there when i was a young girl really lovely toast i think owner was alfie wragg he was a nice man to his customers this was about 1960s . I also remember there was a cafe in hospital street in about 1958 and my gran used to by me an oxo drink i used to love it i still like oxo now all them years later .
 
Does anyone remember Mr Minty's cafe Franchises street. My nan lived in one of the back to backs behind the cafe. Pem was her name and she worked for him until she was in her early seventy's making bread pudding spotted dicks and loads of other goodies. The photo is of nan with my brother and the cafe in the back ground TTFN. Jean.
 
Astonian - sorry to be so long in replying to you. Many thanks for your comments about our cafe in Park Lane. It WAS a good clean, place. Value for money! Sorry to hear about your Grandfather. We all have relatives!!!!
 
Astonian a friend of mine by the name of Ivy Price said her aunt used to own that cafe many years ago. She isn't on the forum but we speak by phone occasionally. Does the name ring a bell?. Jean.
 
A friend of mine worked in a cafe ran by her mother in Ashtead, called Joe's Cafe does anyone remember it?
 
my mom had a cafe on vauxhall road nechells for a short time ,all the men from vauxalls motors came every dinner time . we had the usual juke box and pin balls ,in around 1968 or 1969.she also had the cafe that was off the main road in winson green opposit the school, the road was also opposit the park. she would make toffee apples for the kids,and was busy it was a small cafe .also 1968 or 1969.harley.
 
There was another cafe in Warwick Road at the Sparkbrook end run by another Frank, Blakeney. Frank was a former GPO engineer, a fitter (telephones). I had initially met Frank during my GPO apprenticeship, he was based in Fleet Street. He was a dapper chap. I remember that one of the guys used to call him 'Sir Percy', after the Pimpernel; it drove him mad! Frank had always bemoaned the lack of clean cafes that served milk coffee, and of course his did. He did a great quality all-day-breakfast which he called 'The Top Hat'.
It must have been quite a brave move to leave the Post Office to set up a small business.
 
Hi Postie And Jerry
I Don,t Know Where You Got That Picture From But It Was Most Cerainly Not The Shop
That Tried To Turn Into A Cafe I Can Certainly Remember This Particular Shop WAtton
WaS On About It Was Oly Yards Up Across On The Oppersite Side Of The Rd
PrIOR To Being A Cafe The Shop Had Hardley Any Think In The Window And After
My Grand Father Sold The Cafe [ Which Was 237 Park Lane ] To Some Indian Family
They Made The Cafe Horrible And They Was Playing Loud IndianMusic ,They Painted It In A Blue Coulor , And It Looked Disgusting And Un Appealing , And Nobody Would Go In There Then This ShopWatton Was On About Decided To Try And Open Up As A Cafe , And I Thought They Would Do Well But That Shop Was Only A Little Window And A Very Little ShopInside
 
Who Was Bob Of Bobs Cafes ,There Was Quite Afew Cafes Called Bobs Cafe,s
Was They Owned By OneMan , Or Was It Just Coinincenes ?,
There Was One In Spark Hil And There Was OneOn Pershore Rd It Was Run By
Two Old Ladies They Was Always Packed Out For There Roast Beef And Yorkshire Pudding And There Sweet Deserts You Had To Get There Early In The Lunch Time To Get A Seat They Had TTwo Rooms And They Was Always Choc A Block
Just Like Beddoes Fish And Chip Shop Hay Mills Was , But Like Every Think Else
Comes To An End The Two Old Ladies Was Mary And Olive Two Of The Best People You Could Have Met , But I Put It Down To The Fact There Old Age And The Custom Demand Got To Them Which Forced Them To Retire And Then Of Course The Council Decided To Put Yellow Lines Down And That Did A BIT oF dAMAGE To The Trade
But She Was On Good Terms With The Traffic Warden Whom Came In For A Cuppa Of The Best Rosie Lea Tea In Brum , But Sadly With With All These Health And Safety Rules And High Rents Its Very Hard To Find A Good Cafe Today
Best Wishes To Every -one And Be Careful Out There And Have A Nice Day ,
 
Old fashioned 'Caffs' are dying out faster than pubs, I used a few when I was coach driving, taking 'kiddies' to swimming baths or playing fields - one opposite Stetchford baths whose 'full' breakfast was too much for even my vast appetite, and one on the corner of Church Lane and Kilburn Grove Handsworth (just before Grove Lane) whose food was far better than the look of the place outside. It had some old framed photos inside of the place, decorated for coronations or VE day or the like.
 
We used to use this cafe every morning in the late 50's early 60's,the roast dinners were something else whole boiled spuds on the plate.
There used to be a dustman who would come in and collect the plates, any leftover food went straight down his throat, needless to say he was huge, a bit of a character he always wore a ladies hat with a feather in it, much like Robin Hood, the good old days.
 
John

I see from the sign that the café in your photo is Smokey Joe's transport café. I don't seem to remember it like this.

Can you tell me did he move into new premises sometime in the early to mid 60's. I seem to remember his place being in a row of shops set back from the road a little opposite the Travelers Rest Pub.

I don't seem to associate the café being where the shopping centre is now but a little further back along the road.

Perhaps its my feeble mind giving out on me.

Phil
 
Hi Phil,
You are right about the position of the cafe, it was more or less opposite the Travellers Rest.
The Grosverner shopping precinct extends fron Church Road right down to the garage opposite the junction of Bell Lane.
Sometime later Smokeys became the Bonanza cafe, full of machines, not a patch on old Smokeys.
Regards John.
P.S. the photo was from the Alton Douglas book
Birmingham Shops.
 
Phil
I agree with you, that ,as i remember it in 1968, smoky joes was set back more, but here are 2 photos in the distance in 1968 and in 1966, and they all show the same. It must be our memories playing up
mike
 
Smokey Joes cafe was two or three doors up from the roadway that led to what was Midland counties dairy
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Depot
 
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Mike

As you say it must be old age that is causing it. I used Smokey Joes probably half a dozen times a year in 1963 & 1964 mostly late at night so I would hardly call myself a regular.

I used so many cafés during those times, I'm probably getting myself in a muddle.

Phil
 
MJ and Phil dont think memory going smokey joes and others were set back they altered the road later .... I think? it might be all our memories ?LOL
 
Hi

as most of you know my grand fathers was the jelfs

they had a load of coffee shops around birmingham and it was

george william jelf the father whom created for his family a chain of coffee shops is coffee shop was at holly lane erdington tyburn rd

where he started its empire and alot of his customers was from fort dunlop he died sept 15th 1935 and i have come across a obituaria colum

in the b,ham paper in a 1935 edition so i thought i would like to put

it on the thread so i am going to down load it on the thread now

where the family wish to thank the people fpr there kindness

best wishes and thank you for letting me put it on
 
remember Rosies Cafe Tame road two sisters ran it for years my mom put the sarnies up for them 2 bacon +tom
robb128
 
hi ya cat
the cafe was at the bottom end of Tame road right hand side factories opposite were Webbs Lawn Mowers Speedwell Gearcase I lived at 201 cafe was approx twenty houses away and is still a going concern had tea and toast there couple of weeks ago still have neighbors living in Tame road
rob
 
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