Restaurants, Cafes, Coffee Bars

Wasn't the Domino by the original Davis sports shop on the same side as the Herbert is today?

Hi, yes it was. From the Council House down, you had the block behind the no.1 & 11 bus stops that was an underground art gallery, which became public toilets when the Herbert opened, then Bayley Lane. There was then the parade of temporary shops. I think the Domino was the first or second shop and had a pink and white striped canopy or frontage .

The Jordan Well coffee bar I was thinking of was on the opposite side of the road, on the same side as the Gaumont

What about the 'Copper Kettle'?

Update: The coffee bar almost opposite the Paris Cinema was apparently called "The Jungle" and the coffee bean shop next to it "Arthur Crump" or similar.

Thanks Dutchman. Excellent info as always.

I remember the Beaker Cafe, I also remember the fight on Radford Common. My age at that time was 12years old (ish), the next morning the Radford Common was littered with bike chains and knifes etc. I also remember my friend Billy Goode getting stabbed, he went in to help a friend and was knifed in the back. Do you remember the toilet block? Inside was a divider wall and one Bonfire Night a group of lads pushed the wall over, the bang was so loud we thought it was a bomb. My name by the way is Colin Walton and I lived in the old back to back houses opposite the Radford Common, 404. I can say I had a great time growing up, we used to play in a spinney called the high mounts (highits as we called them) the spinney formed the divide between the upper and lower Radford Road, it starts at the divide at Three Spires Ave and the road traffic island at the Whitemoor pub. The other reason we had such a good time was because of the amount of freedom we had. Does any one remember Burglar Bill (real name = Eli Augustus Wilkinson). He and his family lived in an old corporation bus at the rear of the cottages on the Radford Road. That's all for now, loads of good memories

I remember the Copper Kettle, bottom of Hill St opposite St John's Church, fond memories, my wife and I loved the steak and kidney pie and chips with gravy, mmmm taste it now, all home-made. When we were courting we would meet after work and go for tea, simple food with taste. The other place we used to frequent was the round cafe (Wimpy), Lower Precinct, Coventry. Beef burger and chips, toasted bap and ketchup. Do you remember American styles? All for now. Colin Walton

Was that the cafe kept by a chap who stood for parliament in the 1960s as an independent. I think that he lost his deposit. I seem to remember that he scuba dived for a hobby.

I always thought the cafe at the bottom of Hill St o/p St John's Church was called the Willow Plate and the chap who kept it was diver who used to assist the police, I remember a story that Sean Connery and his then wife Diane Cilento ate in there in the early sixties.

Thank you for that, Colin. Yes I do remember the Wimpy with the bender sausage things. I was young then too. Also the pancake parlour, not many yards away.

Hi Bernie, If Diane Cilento and Sean Connery did eat there, it would have been in 1965 when she was in a play by Arnold Wesker called The Four Seasons, which ran for a week at the Belgrade before its London run. Her co-star was Alan Bates but, despite the strong cast, the play was not a great success. Indded the most exciting moment on the first night was when Sean Connery took his seat in one of the boxes.

Wasn't there one called the Milko or something like that? Not sure where it was, but I know there was one, a bit sort of Art Deco/modernist in the Burges, around the end of the 50s, and I think that was it. If I remember rightly, the frontage was sort of highly polished black and a lightish green (plastic??), with stylish chrome letters.

Thank you Greenman, that would be about the time I remember the couple in Coventry

PiC - I really hope you meant to say BENDY sausages I remember those as being a bit like frankfurters. I liked the pancake parlour but especially the ice cold milk in that swirly machine.