Restaurants, Cafes, Coffee Bars

Brilliant pics. We had many a nice Vienna steak, chips and peas from Farmer Giles in the Burges. I suspect it was just a common burger really. It was like walking into a sauna judging by the condensation trickling down the windows. Happy days.

Dream, your post brings back many memories for me. A crowd of us all used to go on a Saturday and have a 'spesh' (short for special) which was s&k pie, peas & chips, cup of tea and bread & butter, all for the princely sum of 2/6d! I always tried to get the bottom table which was next to the steps and serving hatch. I used to mimic the owner's voice and call for meals. 'oner' Vienna steak, 'oner' jam rol' etc. which ended up with him and his wife (who was the cook) having a spat when she served them on the hatch counter! He caught on pretty quickly and we were all ushered to front tables from then on! It was always busy I recall. Do you remember big George who just stood behind the main counter pouring tea from a large pot into cups all lined up together, no stopping in between! Great days.

Wearethemods, it was a Sat morning we would frequent there, us and the two kids. You must have been at the next table. Do you recall there used to be an upstairs until it was declared unsafe - I think. As for the big teapot and the big fella, always there ready to pour, and yes it was always near enough full. I never had the privilege of the st & k pie. Very popular eatery in our day and affordable. We thought we had it all in the 60's.

Hi again Dream. We used to congregate there on a Saturday afternoon/teatime. I don't recall there being an upstairs but I do remember a flight of stairs in the bottom left hand corner. Would that be right? Then we'd go over the Burges to the Mercia pub which had recently opened*. I remember being asked my age, (at 16), and I responded, "I don't mind you asking me that, but don't let the wife hear as it upsets the kids". I always got away with that statement for my cheek! *I believe it's a hairdressers now

And now for something entirely different and probably I need some help from Kaga (and anybody else that knows) Does anybody remember British Restaurants? I`m hazy because I didn`t return from being evacuated until 1947, but when I went to school at KHVIII I sometimes went for my dinner break down to a large "shed" alongside the railway next to the Technical College. I was told it was a British Restaurant, which I assumed had been opened during the war and carried on serving mass meals to workers after the war. If memory serves me correct the food was basic and awful, I particularly remember the bright green cabbage which I was told was the result of boiling it in soda. I was also under the impression that the gas showrooms in Corporation Street was also a British Restaurant during and after the war, before it was "liberated"

Yes I had many lunches with my grandma at the Gas Showrooms, and I think there was a waitress area upstairs which we might have used but not as much as the downstairs one. Another was on Gosford Green but I did not use that one. This topic has been raised previously.

Mostly within this thread, there is quite a lot of discussion on the subject. Type 'british restaurant' into the search box at the top of the page, posts (not titles)

Thanks Midland Red - will do

We used to congregate back in the 60's at a cafe in Spon Street (same side as Ma Brown's) called the Ponderosa, it had a pin table in.

British Restaurants were created at the beginning of the war for bombed out people, but quickly became popular for anyone, cheap, non-profit making but to break even, they were called something else that Churchill didn't like, so he changed the name, but the idea was for people not to starve if losing their homes and nowhere to prepare meals.

Here's a link to British Restaurants

I often went into the British Restaurant in Gosford Green with my mum at lunchtimes when she managed a small general store in King Richard Street. I was very young at the time and loved the jam tart and custard. It was more like a marquee with many long trestle tables. There were never many in there at one time.

I should have mentioned ARP wardens or police could issue vouchers on the spot, but I believe Coventry's were used before we had a bomb, not sure about that.

Talking of restaurants - Quo Vardis in Barker Butts Lane. I visited it twice in the 80s and had the most wonderful meal on both occasions. Whatever happened to it? Similarly Nello (I think it was called) on the junction of Clifford Bridge and Brinklow roads, it was there for years and then.... whoosh, gone!

Quo Vadis is now Dosa Village Looking at Google Street view archive Jul 2008 - Quo Vadis July 2011- Oct 2012 - Palmyrah Restaurant Sept 2015 onwards - Dosa Village