Restaurants, Cafes, Coffee Bars

Very popular in the late 50s and early 60s, but always known to us as the Cirque. As sophisticated teenagers, we drank very frothy coffee with whipped cream, which now sounds quite revolting!!

After looking at the posts for Tony's cafe does any one remember Mrs Varney's in Sandy Lane opposite the bus depot. Hygiene was a but suspect but Mr Varney used to make the most delicious sausage batches. We used to be able to get a subsidised meal at the EMEB but it was worth forgoing that for a Varney's batch.

Did they have the multi-coloured sugar which many espresso coffee bars seemed to have in their early days? Here's a more recent photo of the circular cafe

Not that I remember Cliff but then the el Cabana didn't open until the very end of the 1950s. The staff also made it clear they didn't want kids like me hanging around the premises.

Hi all Which of the coffee bars in Coventry had a juke-box? Can you remember?

Hi Philip There was one in Gosford Street that I seem to recall. And I'm sure that Tricia and myself went to one in Albany Road, Earlsdon, that had a jukebox. Can't remember the name of either of them. I did love the jukeboxes though

The first one I can remember was in the coffee bar next to the Savoy in Radford.

Didn't the Wimpy Bar in Trinity Street (when it was half-way down, near where the Silver Sword is/was) used to have a jukebox? Could be my mind again though! (no comments please ) The only other jukebox I recall wasn't in a coffee bar, but the Bagnton Oak pub in the late 60's. Come closing time, there was no waiting for the current record to finish - the guy would just walk up, reach round the back, and unplug it mid-song!!

Yes, the el Cabana, one of the reasons they didn't want kids like me in the place. We would go in there just to play the juke box. The Godiva Cafe in Jordan Well had one too. Being a very narrow cafe they were limited to one of those tiny wall mounted units.

Hi there, didn't the Copper Kettle stand on the corner of Hill St, in a prefabricated building? Freeman

What happened to all these coffee bars? When I came here in 1989 you couldn't get a decent fresh coffee anywhere apart from maybe Etna Ristorante on Hertford Street. When the short-lived cafe at the back of Cathedral Lanes opened (Palms?) you could get a fresh coffee there. Everywhere seemed to serve instant coffee or stuff from those machines that use instant coffee granules - I remember going to a cafe in Northampton and getting a large French Press of fresh coffee. Even the chains such as Starbucks and Costa seemed to avoid Coventry for some years. Nowadays not only do we have all the chains, but a few independents & most places have proper espresso machines.

Hi Freeman, As I remember it, yes I think so. It did have a brick frontage.

Just in case this thread reminds someone of the Kongoni, that business has its own thread!

It depends on the date. Up until 1960 at least it was located in the former watchmaker's house at 2a Spon Street.