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Kardomah

Colmore Row Snack Van

My husband has just phoned me devastated because the snack van in Colmore Row has gone...........appart from the fact he says he is starving. He is so upset because he says it has been there fo 50 years!
 
Moma if its right another of my treats gone but I still got the memories and why I was eating there all those years ago:)

No wonder your husbands upset:|
 
That's sad Wendy.

Alfie when I was in Brum a few weeks ago I took a photo of where the old baked potato barrow used to stand by New Street Station. I did somethig daft and lost all the photo's I took.:| Another one was the sign that still stands above where the Odeon was New Street, it is the just the word ODEON in 30's style, and I didn't know it was still there. I'll get back and do them again.
 
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cafe

:D Sorry to put a bit of a damper on the Kardomah cafe we used it in the early 60s i was a mod people used to go there,to carry on illegal dealings which were passed on under the table some of these cost at the time so i was told 1sh or 1/3d

Mossy8)
 
Dealing

We cant change it's history Mossy good or bad it happened. So putting it on here adds to us knowing more about Brum, it's people and it's many places.
 
Mossy, I was also a mod in the 60s and dealing went on everywhere, there was always more people in the toilets than on the dance floor.
Our favourite place for a good night out was the all nighters at the Town Hall. We were quite friendly with Stevie Winwood, and he used to let us help them set up their gear, so we could get in for nothing.
we also used the Whiskey ago go and of course our favourite, the BRUM CAVERN.
Good ole days Moss.;)
 
Kardoma etc.

I set up a thread "Lewis's and the Like" I have been directed here by Oisin to catch up on more about the Kardoma Caf etc. So there are more posts there. Being new I haven't searched everything yet. I'll read through them all over time.
Plenty plenty plenty.
One thing is for certain, that all the topics we think of about Brum, there are many many common denominaters.
Anne
 
Glad you found this post Anne, the KD as we always called it has a very special place in my heart. Some of us were young and oh soooooooo in love.................
 
Kardoma beaux

Di,
Lots for me to read.
I was a student nurse and as part of my programme I worked at the genenral Hospital. It was alway the Kardoma that was the first meeting place for new beaux!!!!
Anne
 
Hi,

I have joined the forum on behalf of my friend's mother who is now 86 and doesn't have internet access. She has very fond memories of the Kardoma on New Street and was one of the Kardoma Cowboys!! Her name at the time was Gwen Wilkes and she went to the Kardoma in the 1940s and 50s, they also used to go to the Casino at night for dances. We would love to find anyone who remembers Gwen, especially any fellow Cowboys.

Thanks.
 
Not the sort of place I ever used in the 60's, it was a bit too cream cakey for my liking. No greasy bacon & tomato sandwiches.

I have had a quick look through the thread and I see no photo, so I am posting this one.

Phil

CityColmoreRowKardomahCoffeeBar1953.jpg
 
I left Brum in 1970's. in 1982 went to Southport. they had a Kardohma there as well. Best coffee ever just like brum, could never make it as good at home.
 
I remember the Kardomah in Colmore Row, but it was always to posh for me, years later when in Brighton there was another and when I wanted to impress a new girlfriend I always arranged to meet there, felt very sofisticated.
 
Here's the old KD on New St. taken in 2008. I spent many happy momments in the self service basement that was usually rammed in the mid 60's, Mossy you could buy anything in that Cafe', Del boy goods.
 
down-under said:
I used to work in the office down stairs in the basement in the sixties I was in my late teens. Ground floor had a coffee bar and a waitress area.
Plus an area where you bought ground coffee and filters and coffee machines. Basement was a self service with my pokey office under the stairs Manageress had a office down there also and there was a manager who was based at the other Kardomah who was in overall charge of both.
For my young age I handled all the money aand cigarette stock and so forth. Then I left to work in the post office, because I had to work saturdays and my half day in the week nevr coincided with any of my friends. I can remember some one saying when they paid for a cup of tea.
"I only want a cup not the bloody plantation" so it must have cost more than he wanted to pay.!
The staff had lunch cooked for them it was free.
Regards Pam
Click to expand...
Pam my friend Chris Maybury was a manageress there at about that time . did you know her.

Jean
 
Kardomah Colmore Row RIBA 1930s photo shows the rolling shutter at the rear of the building. Looks very state of the art. Viv.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1372510490.490935.jpg
 
That is so very 30's Viv, by the time we were all going there in the 50's it had been bombed, the photo on 73 shows 'our' KD. I think the entrance to the basement was through the door on the extreme right.

Thanks for bringing this thread forward, I have enjoyed reading it and seeing posts from old friends.
 
I have really enjoyed rereading this thread also.Thanks for bringing it forward again Viv. The Kardomah's in Brum in the l950's were a big part of the social life of so many people.Handy locations and great coffee. It really was a special place. Many of us remember later on when
the espresso coffee places opened up in town and Andre Drucker opened his special coffee cafe called La Bohemme which started life on Aston Street before moving to Moseley going forward from there to create a coffee chain that still run's today.
 
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There were two Kardomah's. The photo in #73 of the one in Colmore Row, and the other was in New Street. It was a big part of social life in the late 50's as JennyAnn says.
 
Kardomah Cafe.jpgThe building in New Street was on the corner of Cannon Street, now Ted Baker's. The photo is the original sign over the doorway. You can still read it but it is very faint now.
 
Di, the Kardomah Café was actually on the corner of New Street and Needless Alley. I have searched my photos in vain I'm afraid and the only one I can find of the Kardomah New Street is this that was taken some time after it closed.
 

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Good news! The building on Colmore Row, which was the Kardomah is opening up again as a coffee shop.
 
That's great news Oisin. I have good memories of the Kardomah in Colmore Row, it was a great meeting place as was the one in New Street.

Judy
 
Happy Memories, Gee we thought we were with it going to the coffee bars.
Anybody remember "The Phoenix" in Moor St. they seemed to be open until 2.00am in the 50's and 60's and did a great Spanish Omelette.

Sorry going a bit off thread.
 
Hi, we are trying to find out if anyone remembers there being a mosaic wall in the Kardomah cafe on New Street and if so if anyone has any further information as to who designed it etc. would love to hear from anyone who has any memories! Thank you in advance!
 
If you walk down New Street next to the Tesco supermarket is Needles Alley next to that is a shop (at one time in its history it was a Kardoma Café, ) inside this now empty shop is an what looks like an open Fire Place is it real or is it a Shop Prop? to be honest I just wanted to get home for a nice cup of tea, so I was unable to see if there was a chimney or not, so is it real if so how old is it? discus
https://flic.kr/p/29CzLfd
 
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