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Kardomah

La Boheme

Hi Jennyann, It certainly was Andre Drucker who owned La Boheme and his Apfel strudel & fresh whipped cream was to die for. You are right about the atmosphere in there, on Saturday nights it used to be PACKED. We used to fight through the crowd to collect cups & saucers 'cause we kept running out!
It was very civilised though, and never any trouble. If any 'Rockers or Mods' came in, they felt out of place and left. Sometimes, early in the evening when it was quiet, I used to play my guitar (Dylan, Joan Baez, etc) and the manager suggested starting a folk club upstairs, so we painted everything black & red, put in dim lights & candles and we were off! It was very succesful and popular with the students from Aston Uni. I also met my 'First Love' there..........but that's another story. (especially since the 'current love' is hovering around 8) )
 
Thanks for that Frantic. Did you get any samples of that apple strudel and cream? Bet you didn't have much time for eating with all those customers...correction... you must have had time to chat up the birds...hence meeting your first love in the cafe

Since it is called Vienna Pattiserie, it was probably Vienna where Andre Drucker originally came from. The name La Boheme is still used by
Druckers. The actual company name is La Boheme Ltd and they trade
as Drucker's Vienna Pattiserie.....fascinating.

There is a big pub across from the Central Fire Station on Aston Road. It's all boarded up now and it looks very sad. Years ago they used to play jazz
in the upstairs rooms some nights. Some of jazz enthusiasts used to
patronise La Boheme after the sessions, my brother Peter being one of them.

Drucker's is such a success story these days operating in malls alongside
Starbucks and Costa as well as other high profile locations up and down the country and holding their own very well. The business is now run by Andre's son Stephen. I remember reading on the internet that Stephen had bought a very unusual house in Kenilworth with a tall tower and lower outbuildings. It is basically an inland lighthouse. I have seen a photo of it only. Not sure if he still lives there. Tourist buses go by it because it is so unusual. It was built for a retired sea captain I believe many years ago.

Andre was a novelist, playwright and a painter. Years ago I found an article about him right here in Coquitlam where I live... a tattered New York magazine in the doctor's waiting room. I was amazed to be sure.
:lol:
 
:D I also went to the La Boheme, in fact it was Alberta's sister in Law Valerie who first took me there around 1963/4. If I remember right it had a red fluorescent sign and was not far from the Mail & Dispatch offices at the bottom end of Corporation St .

Chris :)
 
... and the dynasty continues: My grandaughter went for an interview for a part-time job at Druckers only this week. She's still waiting to hear if she's got the job. :D
 
Jenny Ann, the pub you referred to is the Ben Johnson, corner of Staniforth Street and Aston road, I read only in the last couple of weeks that it is to undergo major refurbishment before re-opening.

I have a vague recollection of La Boheme after the above postings, was it near to Thomas Wolfe furniture store? If so, I did go there.
 
Not the Kardomah

Seeing the lively correspondence on La Boheme got me thinking. Next morning I looked in my 1959 diary which confirms I went there on the evening of Good Friday, 27 March. I had left Birmingham 3 weeks earlier, and this was my first return home for the Bank Holiday. As vwas my way in those days, I went to an evening service at St Michael's Handsworth, met up with a nice girl I knew fairly well, and she moreorless took me to the LA BOHEME, which she recommended. I also remember that when I took her home afterwards she found she had no key, and I had to do the gentlemanly thing and climb through the little top kitchen window to let her in. It was all very chivalrous, no advantage taken and no regrets. I never got to the LA BOHEME again, more's the pity - it sounds a very nice place, at a time when there was not much on offer in Brum. Nor did I ever see the young lady again, asd it happens!
Looking through my diaries from the late 1950s I see various additions to the usual run of Joe Lyons, Kardomah, and the British Restaurants. The first was the BARBECUE coffee bar which opened in 1954 in Cornwall Street opposite the back entrance to the School of Art where I was studying. The 1956 Kelly's Directory shows a complete blank for that site, so it must have been redeveloped by then.
Another coffee bar I used in 1958 - 59 was the LOCARNO, which I think was at the top of Summer Hill. Yet another which I went to in late 1959 after I had emigrated to London was the FIESTA - I have no idea where that was now.
Can anyone else advise?
Peter
 
Peter,
I never went, but I remember my older sister being frowned on by my parents for frequenting the Locarno because it was a known hang out for beatniks :shock: ... My word, what was the world coming too? :roll:
 
Re: Kardomah ......and Martineau Street

In the late 50s I remember two coffee bars in the Martineau Street area. One almost at the top on the right (and most likely to "close" the place every hour just to force us to buy another coffee!) and one at the bottom/corner of Albert Street that used to have a folk singer with guitar and fairly low lighting. Anyone remember the names? ::)
 
My haunt too, I wonder if any of us where in there at the same time 64 dollar question, but i can't remember the basement perhaps it was full up when i went there. Happy Days
 
Was the Kardomah a chain? the reason I ask is I have a photo of my Dad and some family in front of what looks like the Kardomah. You an read the words Kardom... on the front of the shop below the window. The photo is not dated but I know its about 1935 as this is when my Dad had his motorbike accident and his head is still bandaged.
 
I don't know if there were a chain of Kardomahs, but I believe there was only one in Birmingham and if I'm wrong, we'll soon hear about it.:rolleyes:
 
Here's the photo judge for yourselves. ;)

Neville_and_Tom.jpg
 
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There were two Kardomahs in brum. One opposite Snow Hill Station the other was in New Street, just around the corner from Corporation Street. I found this on the net, courtesy Christophers photos, and titled, Kardomah, Needless Alley.
 
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Wasn't the New Street Kardomah on the corner of Needless Alley..Di? GREAT PHOTO. I once worked across the road from the Kardomah on a "temp" job and it was interesting to watch what was going on upstairs at times.
 
The 1956 Kelly's directory lists three branches - 42A New St, 18 Colmore Row and 39 Cannon St. Can't remember that last one, but it must have been opposite the back door to the Bham Post & Mail place, where the papers were despatched from the print room, which I do remember.
Peter
 
This does bring back pleasant memories, we often used to meet there if we were going to something in the city. As I came in on the #70 bus it was convenient just across the road from Snow Hill.:)
 
Always the meeting place for us lads before going any place in the city & last thing at night meeting up again over the road out side Snow Hill Station FOR A HOT PIE & COFFEE from ALEX's mobile snack bar.
what great days.
 
We would meet there on Saturday afternoon after Brian had played footie, and then off we went to the pictures. Great Saturdays:great:
 
Hello
There was definately a basement in the Kardomah, because my little office where I sorted the money out was there no window. There was also another Kardomah . There was a coffee lounge, waitress service and a counter where you bought ground coffee and coffee machines and down stairs to the basement cafe.

Pam
 
jennyann said:
Wasn't the New Street Kardomah on the corner of Needless Alley..Di? GREAT PHOTO. I once worked across the road from the Kardomah on a "temp" job and it was interesting to watch what was going on upstairs at times.
Click to expand...

You're not going to leave it there are you? please tell us more about what went on.:rolleyes:
 
down-under said:
Hello
There was definately a basement in the Kardomah, because my little office where I sorted the money out was there no window. There was also another Kardomah . There was a coffee lounge, waitress service and a counter where you bought ground coffee and coffee machines and down stairs to the basement cafe.

Pam
Click to expand...

The basement in the KD in Colmore Row is where we always went. Was there a basement in New Stree, Pam?
We were pretty much youngsters down there, but then coffee drinking was the way to go for kids in the early days after the war. A bottle of Camp was the only coffee in our house, made with milk if you were given a treat.8)
 
Ah Camp coffee Di. Same in our house although when we received the odd parcel from my Aunty in Canada it contained a couple of tins of Maxwell House ground coffee. We had no coffee making equipment and used to boil it in a saucepan and then strain it.....very strange. Then came the little tins of Nescafe instant coffee which tasted much better than Camp. Mom and I used to make it on Saturday mornings when I was helping her in the house.
All milk if I remember with the cream from the top of the milk bottle. Yummy.

The Kardomah on New Street...upstairs was a hangout for would be writers.
They would be out of the way mostly in the afternoons after the lunch hour crowd and not bothered by the staff as they were mostly quiet but smoked a lot. They would buy a cup of coffee and make it last. Some of the regulars had portable typewriters and would be smoking, drinking coffee and adding to their writings along with their friends. There used to be some
smooching going on since there were women as well as men there. So it wasn't anything dramtic that I witnessed just fascinating watching from across the street.

The most amazing thing that I viewed from the upstairs of the Kardomah across to my office on the other side of the street, in which I was a temp. No names, of course. Can't remember now anyway. There were many small offices upstairs in that building facing New Street. The girl that I was replacing was on her honeymoon and just before I left for the day to go across to the Kardomah to meet a friend, she came back to the office to see her boss. I was introduced. The lights were still on when I took my seat in the Kardomah and I could see them through the net curtains. Let's just say it was obvious that their relationship was much more than boss and secretary. Eventually, the lights were switched off as they must have realized that they could be seen from the Kardomah and other upstairs offices on the same side. This shocked me at the time. I was glad to get out of there the next day as it was my last of the assignment.
 
Had lovely times at the KD we used to go to town every weekend while shopping:)
 
Alf, like you l've spent many a happy hour in the KD,usually every Saturday in the early 50s, my friend and l would first go to Lewis's basement record dept,there was always a crowd there and of course all of us would just stand around listening to the latest hits,spent a small fortune there,Lewis's was the place to be in those days, after awhile we would end up at the KD downstairs always having a coffee and beans on toast,l think it cost all of 2/6 maybe less, then it was time to go home,get ready to go dancing and bopping,l loved doing both ah! happy days wish l had half the energy l had then, its still nice to see the KD is still there after all these years but of course it does not have the atmosphere it had in the early 50s. Brenda
 
Lewis , Beehive, M&S, etc plus a record shop near Harry Parks Corporation Street, Happy Days:love:
 
Memories of the KD at Snow Hill. My wife, to be, and I would meet on a lunchtime, for coffee when I was working a late shift in Hockley starting at 2p.m.
For her part she worked for the Gas Board, Saltley, in their laboratories. One of the jobs she had was to take readings, from instruments measuring, of atmospherics in the City Centre. She timed her readings to coincide with convenience to meet me for coffee.
 
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