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
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!
I’d always associated the Kardomah with coffee. But it seems to have sold teas since 1845. Also the New Street address was an ‘exhibition’ depot - exhibition of what, coffee and teas ? Viv.
More info here https://ruthmillington.co.uk/surrea...AMwJmbAVisJw1ucZnaUYXCYXybFpjpmm1kXNdDJvt-2KMI seem to remember tiles on the wall , I couyldn't say whether or not it was a mosaic or not
Hi, The Art Nouveau style would support this date. The listing information also mentions the possible existence of earlier interior decoration behind contemporary fittings. Would be nice to see it.My post #99 shows an advert for the ‘New Mosaic Room’ in 1906. So presumably the mosaic dates to that time. Also, the advert in post #97 (also dated 1906) describes the Kardomah as an ‘Exhibition Depot and Cafe” Not entirely clear as to what that actually meant. Viv.
I along with quite a few young ladies and gents used th KD in New St , that was where you made your plan of action for the weekend over a coffe maybe a sarnie Saturday afternnon , good old days
used the KD a lot in the early 60’s…...I was a good friend of David Davies,brother of Mandy Rice-Davis…..met her with Dave once in the cafe during our lunch break,shortly after the ‘scandal’.…created quite a stir…..two young mods sitting with Mandy. Barry HartThere 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.
Was that a case that they never transitioned to a newer format? I used the one next to the GWA frequently and it seemed they had all of the pieces :-(The Kardomah Cafes on Colmore Row adjacent to the GW Arcade and the one on the corner of Cannon Street both became Pizza Huts in the late eighties / nineties.
Great points Bob, we did ours on a Saturday on all counts. And I thought I was discrete with my ogling! Very well said!Reading through this thread, I realised that there has to be an outside chance that two or three BHF members were sat in there, possibly next to each other, not knowing each other on the same day. My friends and I regularly met there Fridays and Saturdays to plan our weekends etc (dancing drinking (other than coffee) cinema, big band at the Town hall). The options were endless and the coffee expensive. If you were a young lady bouffant skirt etc, looking seductive and felt you were being ogled, let me apologise now in case it was me
Bob
Winkle pickers, there is a blast from the past! My uncle who was a sheep and dairy farmer in Wales called the barn door shoes as in you could throw the shoes and stick them into the door. I defer to the winkle pickers!When we were young, and not that well off, The kardomha, was very posh, and in your Jacksons, Italian suite, and winkle pickers , lots of Brute, you certainly thought you were, ogling aside, it was a place for posh birds!!!!