Restaurants, Cafes, Coffee Bars

What happened to King Wa's in Warwick Row then?

Now you are talking. Late 1960s Saturday evenings would find a lot of Coventry rugby clubs in there. Curries were rumoured to have cat meat in them but they always tasted very good.

I ran a cafe with Nick Demetrious in Primrose Hill Street which we called Nick's Place. Across the road a few doors from Bob Davenport's second hand shop was another cafe which everyone referred to as four fingered George's almost next door to Mrs. Hills haberdashery shop and her son-in-law's bookies. There was another cafe just on the brow of Primrose Hill Street and two more further down the road past the old club. I also opened another cafe on the corner near the car showrooms opposite the Swanswell. There was also Tony's on Stoney Stanton Road, another on the Foleshill Road and a few more dotted around the area. I believe Rashid owned 2/3 cafes in those days as well. In those days all night cafes were the favourite place to congregate, lots of slot machines, loud music and somewhere for the pimps to spend their money waiting for the 'girls' to return! In the case of Nick's Place we had a card and roulette table upstairs which the Greek Cypriots and others made full use of overnight, many arrived in a car and ended up walking home after losing the car in a game of cards. The place was always packed with customers, especially overnight. I reckon most of them had nowhere else to stay! Some of my noteable customers were well known faces in Coventry and I cannot ever remember anyone actually fighting with each other. Good old days.

Sorry for dragging up an old post but it jogged my memory, back in the late 50s I was in a trio that played in the El Cabana once a week if I remember correctly and there was no trouble at that time.

There's some confusion here. Gigi's was roughly opposite and half-way between the Colin Campbell and the Oak Inn. El Cabana was opposite the Curtis Warehouse and closer to the Mermaid than any other pub. I don't recall the El Cabana hosting live music of any sort and indeed would be very surprised if they had the space to do so.

Hi dutchman, Was there a coffee bar somewhere near the Alexandra?

Sombrero in Cox St. Dubious customers used it, I would not go in.

Thanks scrutiny, this is the cafe I was thinking about. I never went in it, like you said, dubious customers used it.

Two Guitars and a string bass don't take up much room !

Would that have been in the self-service or the waitress service section? As mentioned here before the Cabana had an L-shaped layout with two very different rooms separated by a beaded door curtain. I bet the waitresses really loved that curtain, having to negotiate it - often backwards - with trays of food?

I really enjoyed Wingy's memories of cafe life. The characters and the names and the life of Coventry's demimonde. Coventry obviously wasn't quite as dull as most of us imagined and had a side to it we were not aware of. Wingy could be a modern Damon Runyon. As has already been mentioned many would not have ventured into some of these establishments but there's a story there waiting to be told. Any more recollections Wingy?

Jeez I am going back over 50 years but from memory we had our backs to a wall and faced the people. The lead guitar was Chas Webley second guitar may have been Dave Wagstaff all well known in the jazz scene at the time and my self on bass, Chas doubled on Mandolin I was with them for only a short time a couple of months at most.

It may have been before they installed a jukebox, circa 1962. There would have been a lot more room back then.