Classic Cafes News 2007-08 >> Acclaim for Classic Cafes

As of 2005 the best-selling large-format Classic Cafes book is now sold out! (Copies may occassionally be found via speciality online sources.) Devour the Financial Times' interview; thrill to The Times' eulogy; pore over the out-takes. 'With hundreds of specially commissioned photos, heartbreaking archive and reams of research, this deluxe collectors' item first edition is an object to cherish forever...'

"sumptuous... beautiful... breathtaking... deeply evocative... " Sam Carpenter, Royal Institute of British Architects "genius... passionate, elegiac, surprising... a wonderful book..." Dr Philip Carter, 20th Century Society/Oxford University Press Classic Cafes is the first ever study of the vintage UK working-man's Formica caff, an institution perilously close to vanishing without trace or acclaim. Part sentimental journey, psychogeographic incursion and alternative architectural gazetteer, Classic Cafes is a shadow social history that shows how London's cultural ascendancy in the 1960s began life in the classic cafes of the 1950s. Written by Adrian Maddox (with architectural photography by Phil Nicholls and Peter Anderson), pretty well all of the pictures and text are wholly exclusive to the book. The best-selling book also features: an extensive gazetteer, filmography, bibliographic research sources, new interviews... and much, much more. Acclaimed by The Times, Telegraph, Guardian, Observer, Independent & Time Out. Click here for Author biog & Financial Times interview; click here for The Times feature on Classic Cafes.

Dec 1 2008
	Nevio Pellicci 1925-2008: It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Nevio Pellicci Snr aged 83. Truly one of the world's greatest cafes, Pellicci's remains Nevio's masterpiece; his spirit and his love of family lives on in every nook and cranny. We hope that generations to come will be able to enjoy it exactly as it was - exactly as Nevio would have wished ... Nevio Pellicci - RIP

Mar 12 2008
	The closure of the New Piccadilly in September 2007 brought a half century of London history to a close and prompted a long dark night of the soul for this website. Many more gems have vanished - Divalls, Koffi Pot - and the latest news is that the Alpino in N1 is going. On a happier note, on the occassion of our 10th anniversary the site has gained a Time Out Award ...

Jun 27 2007
	Black September: Bleak news for Classic Cafeteers: After a run of over half a century, the majestic New Piccadilly cafe closes on Sep 23 2007. Years of wrangling with cabals of developers, landlords and Westminster Council officials have come to a head and now Lorenzo and Co. have been ordered to leave their Denman Street premises. Be sure to visit before the doors close forever...

Nov 25 2006
	Management Today Xmas Special: Britain's premiere magazine of management as it is practised in this very day and age have let us reproduce this in-depth interview with the man known to millions worldwide as the Alan Sugar of Light Refreshment - Lorenzo 'The Maestro' Marioni. This is the full, uncut version of the interview. Dig it. Marioni: Management Today

Nov 24 2006

Nemesis: Over the last few months all of the following classics have shut: Rosa's in Spitalfields, Ron's in Redchurch St Shoreditch (Ron suffered a stroke and sends all best wishes to his legions of fans), The New Goodfayre on Camden Parkway (the original stomping ground of Madness), the Italian Restaurant SW1, and Lido's near Goodge St. Awful news also that the marvellous Snack Bar in Brooks Mews will finally close down this December 15 after half a century of active service. This year has seen so many valiant old cafes snuffed out that it feels like the end is well and truly nigh. But be assured the Classic Cafes archives are over-flowing with masses of previously unseen material and that we hope to migrate all of this online sooner rather than later. Hubris: the Classic Cafes book is sold out (hooray!!). Grab those last few rarity first editions whilst you can. A second updated deluxe edition is in planning for release next year. More details to appear here as and when...

Aug 29 2006

Excelsior Cafe, Oxford: 'The Excelsior Cafe is a survivor, nestling defiantly in a row of nondescript takeaway joints and with a view of the mosque from the window. Coming in from the east, it is the building where the jolly multicultural graffiti covering the rest of the row of buildings ends abruptly in a sober blue and black-painted number with classic sign... ' (Robin Mackay) Excelsior Special

Mar 24 2006

Deal Beach Parlour Cafe: The town motto is 'Befriend Strangers' & you won't go far wrong in that regard at the 60s Beach Parlour on the sea front. Says beachcomber M. Tapsell: 'A film crew were in Deal for the ITV production 'After Thomas', starring Keeley 'Velvet Tipper' Hawes. Scenes were filmed in the iconic Beach Parlour and also at an amusement parlour owned by the same lady.' Keep 'em peeled; keep 'em Classic! Deal Beach Parlour Special

Feb 23 2006
	That'll Be The Day (1973): '...Has at least one 1950s milk-bar/cafe scene, early on, where the teenage anti-hero (based on John Lennon) has his place taken by two leather-jacked Rockers whilst at the counter buying coffee for a pair of giggling girls...' (See also the forthcoming Mar 12 06 'Free Cinema' DVD box-set... ) That'll Be The Day

Feb 14 2006

Valentine's Special: Alison's Snack Bar, Eversholt St NW1 Classic cafes fan & correspondent Mr Robert Wyburn writes to tell us of this dinky little find in the wilds of Camden - sounds like hot-date heaven for Moribundia lovers: "The vandalised Catholic church on Eversholt Street has a notice on the door saying: 'Access available through Alison's Snack Bar'. I don't know whether you get the key there, or nip out the back and climb over the dustbins to find the church entrance but the caff is set well back and has two tables in the yard. Through the rickety door and up the stairs is a room with four Formica tables and ancient loose chairs. The small kitchen area - complete with tiled roof - is presided over by a very friendly, middle-aged Irish bloke. The menu features sandwiches, fry-ups, roast meats, plus lots of vegetarian dishes. Roast pork and three veg come to £4.45 with home-made apple pie and custard at £1.85... a mug of paint-stripper tea is only 45p. Very good food, and attentive service. Highly recommended. (Their leaflet features an advert on the back for Shamrock Catering Services!)"

Jan 27 2006

Battle of Tony's Cafe: Café Francesca in Broadway Market, Hackney has become the front line of a war between locals and developers in a bitter tale of urban regeneration. Locals are now occupying the caff to prevent its demolition by developers... video interview with Carl Taylor from Hackney Independent, and spokesperson for the occupation Arthur Shuter... also, 'Broadway Occupation'/Libcom.org & 'Market forces'/The Guardian

Nov 8 2005
	The Dugout NW11: "The Dugout Cafe is the only cafe of the three North London rocker's cafes that has remained in constant use from the heyday of the late fifties / early sixties. (The other two being the Busy Bee on the Watford bypass, and The Ace on the North Circular road)... It never was a Formica or Vitrolite palace but ..." Dugout Special

Sep 21 2005
	Bestseller: For several weeks now, 'Classic Cafes' has been nestling on the main lobby bestseller shelves of Waterstones' flagship store on Piccadilly. Alongside this, news comes through that the first edition of the book is nearly sold out. With remaining copies in short supply, be sure to get to the shops now to stock up on Xmas gifts... Larger picture of book & word 'Bestsellers'...

Sep 19 2005
	Magdalena Åström: Magdalena's husband Stellan Åström designed the beautiful Konditori Valand in 1954. Everything is original... lovely little fridges with red dots, the floor, the chairs... the walls... the Campbell soupwarmer... Valand is 'L' shaped with mostly dark-wood furnishings and has a 'film noir' feel about it. Magdalena Åström Interview...

Sep 14 2005
	Starbuckers Incorporated: The government may be considering more protection for culturally significant high street buildings... the Department for Culture, Media and Sport... [says of] buildings such as the New Piccadilly: "We may need to reconsider ...changing the criteria, to think more about the relevance of more modern things." Guardian: New Piccadilly Campaign

Sep 2 2005
	Coffee Bar Confidential: Matthew Partington on the birth of the British coffee bar, focusing on the work of three artist potters who made ceramics for a number of coffee bars and whose work represented a unique meeting of art, design and commerce. Includes excerpts from interviews with these artists, and previously unpublished photographs... British Milk Bar Design

Aug 6 2005
	British Transport Films: Pure period bliss; an eye-watering documentary archive of Britain "in 1948, the British Transport Commission set up its own in-house film production unit [covering] British Railways, London Transport, Docks and Inland Waterways, British Transport Hotels... one of the largest industrial film units in Britain." British Transport Films on DVD

Aug 5 2005

Back from the dead. An Apology: Contrary to preposterous reports seen on this very website, we are happy to confirm that the Electric Cafe, SE27 is still very much alive. Thought lost for years, the Electric remains - quite unbelievably - where it has always been: bang opposite the fire station on the main drag of Norwood's own nightmare alley. The very best place for it. This is the cafe equivalent of finding an old soldier lost and unclaimed in an unspeakably dark continent - MIA, armed to the teeth, primed for victory and fighting on to the last. And make no mistake, the Electric's smashing beige and horror-brown decor, old pinball machine and ramshackle kitchen will be serving the Tulse Hill frontline for generations to come. Says Electric major domo Stavros Tsoukkas: "my family have been running the Electric for over 30 years. We are very much still open for business, and we are unchanged in our (ahem) 'beige and horror brown decor'." That's fighting talk, Stavros. Good to have you safe n' home. For those about to nosh, we salute you!

Aug 1 2005
	L Randolfi's: "sandwich/bagel only caff with marble Victorian tables, worn Thonet chairs, Vitrolite-panel ceilings, all-original early 20th century cabinetry behind the counter... a brilliant shack-like rear-section sports a Formica breakfast-bar, flesh-colour panel walls, an old winding-mechanism window and a dozen 1950s counter stools..." Randolfi's Special

Jul 31 2005
	US Loses Battle To Preserve Burger Kings: "Once nearly as plentiful as McDonald's, Burger Kings are becoming the fast-food franchise of a bygone era. A 2004 survey of fast-food diners showed that nearly 60 percent did not live within walking distance of a Burger King...not all communities are giving up their Burger Kings without a fight..." Burger King Fightback Special

Jul 28 2005
Boni's, Clarkston, Glasgow: Anne at ILike writes: "I'd always meant to go to check out Boni's. Sweet Jesus, you have to see this with your own eyes! It's run by a tiny, ancient Italian woman in blue overalls and is entirely populated by old ladies. Seems to survive on ice-cream sales. It can't be long for this world..."

Jul 26 2005
	New Piccadilly listing: We've had hundreds of concerned emails asking for information as to why exactly English Heritage won't list the world's famous New Piccadilly cafe. Here's a brief overview of their arguments put forward to date, along with email and other relevant contact details so that you can complain about their position... Issues surrounding New Piccadilly listing

Jul 25 2005
	Roger Mayne: "Mayne's most heralded body of work was generated during 1956-61 photographing West London. His photos of street level London (teddy boys, coffee bars) influenced many UK photographers. Mayne's empathetic approach to photography is evident in the candid response of his subjects..." Roger Mayne Special (click thumbs at top)

Jul 24 2005
	Motorway Cafes: David Lawrence travelled 8000 miles around the motorways of Britain in 1999. The result: the finest 'glove compartment history of the motorway service area' ever... this design, architecture and cultural history is illustrated in full colour, using technicolour postcards from the 1960s and the 1970s... Transport Service Stations of the 60s & 70s

Jul 18 2005
	Spegeln & Lido, Gävle, Sweden: M Jonholt writes: "take a two hour drive up the coast from Stockholm and you'll find Gävle, a middle sized town with an active cultural life... Kafe Spegeln dates from the late 1950s, it once used to be a cinema... When Konditori Lido first opened in 1952 it was considered very modern and classy..." Spegeln & Lido, Gävle, Sweden

Jul 17 2005
	Konditori Valand, Stockholm: M Jonholt writes: "Valand is owned by an engaging German lady... tourists, designers, artists, actors & cultural workers all come to see this 50s wonder... Everything is original... lovely fridges with red dots, the floor, the chairs... the walls... the Campbell soupwarmer... fabulous..." Konditori Valand, Stockholm, Sweden

Jul 16 2005
	Val D'Oro: The superlative ILike site makes a ravishing new discovery in Scotchland, home of the cafe: "I must have walked past this place a thousand times on the way to The Barras but never noticed how nice it was... [it's] at Glasgow Cross round the corner from the Saltmarket. Just along from the Merchant City going to Barrowlands..." ILike's Val D'Oro Photos

Jul 12 2005

Londonist Classic Cafes interview: "We've always been big fans of Adrian Maddox's Classic Cafes site (not to mention his book) here at Londonist, so when we were casting around for ideas on who to interview for our 'occassional series' Adrian's name was at the top of our list. So, after he'd finished writing walking guides for Time Out and the Guardian he got round to the much more important task of answering the now legendary Londonist questionnaire..." Londonist.Com Profile

Jul 5 2005
	De Marco, Archway: Urbanomic lights out into his territory with this amazing new find: "Italian enclave over the road from Archway station... fitted out in lovely Formica, with a fast turnover of demented clientele, and run by a prizewinning ice-cream dynasty..." (Note: the blog design features several of the cafe's Formica surface designs!) De Marco Cafe N19 Special

Jun 18 2005
	The Guardian: "Clutching the Classic Cafes Tour ... Adrian Maddox (the Pevsner of mid-century cafe architecture) took me from Mayfair and on to the East End... into the fading world of traditional British cafe society, which is rapidly being ousted by 'fast-breeder coffee chains'"... Guardian: London Caff Tour Feature ... more Guardian (Wed 22 June)

Jun 17 2005
	Girl In The Cafe: with key scenes set in the legendary New Piccadilly cafe (8 Denman St, London, W1), Richard Curtis' new movie features Kelly MacDonald (left) in: "a tenderly funny and poignant love story... Curtis combines his unique comedic touch with a powerful humanitarian message in his first film since Love Actually..." TX is BBC1, 25 June, 9.15pm Girl In The Cafe

Jun 14 2005
Time Out: In shops now! Big feature in Time Out following the Classic Cafes 'Central London Cafe Tour' put together by yours truly for Architecture Week (which runs 17-26 June 2005.)

Jun 6 2005

Delocator: Part art project and part political statement, the Delocator is a Web site (delocator.net) that helps people find out where Starbucks stores are not. Finishing School (a 'tactical media collective') began the site as an art installation in San Francisco... the artists are raging against a compliance-driven, coglike work force slinging coffee in the highly regulated architectural constructs of the chain. Their manifesto: "The standardization of this spatial, social and physical experience is hostile to the historical culture of the cafe and is dangerous, ultimately, to democratic principles"...

May 26 2005
	This is the full, in-detail unexpurgated Central London Cafe Tour put together for Architecture Week 17-26 June 2005... please note that this is not a guided tour; just a plunge in whenever-you-fancy route-plan: "the old style Italian Formica cafes of the 1950s, and earlier, have never been given their due ­ despite their contribution to the (sub)cultural life of post war Britain..."

May 25 2005
Stacy Mitchell, Will Wal-Mart Eat Britain? "Arcada in northern California can place a cap on the number of "formula restaurants" (no more than the existing nine), Los Angeles can restrict the size of superstores, and other neighbourhoods can ban them entirely elsewhere in the US, why can't councils in Britain follow suit?" The Institute for Local Self Reliance

Apr 21 2005

LA Time Machines: "This website concentrates on the bastions of a bygone era... Los Angeles restaurants and bars from the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s (movie palaces, motel signs, associated remnants...) These LA Time Machines are interiors where you can sit and indulge the illusion of a time gone by; when life had a slower pace, people cared about quality and integrity, and life's pleasures were simpler and innocent... " ::

Apr 10 2005
	Bernard Kops 1963: "The bums of Soho became my family, the cafe my womb. There has been an attempt to romanticise the bohemian past of London ... I found it largely terrifying and sordid... Tearaways, layabouts, lesbians, queers, mysteries and hangers-on. We just sat in the cafe waiting, waiting for another day to kill itself..." The World Is A Wedding

Apr 6 2005
	Four Winds Restaurant: RIP July 05! Classic Cafes fan Dan O'Leary sends these superb interior shots from Hythe on the Kent coast. The Four Winds - an otherwise unremarkable looking British B&B (all off-white brick and aluminium windows) - boasts the most perfect set of Googie space-age table n' chair fixtures we've ever seen in the UK... Four Winds Restaurant

Apr 5 2005

Classic Cafes fan Feargus O'Sullivan writes to say: "Your website is one of the most beautiful I have come across on the net: full of care; quirky without being wacky; elegant and touching... an excellent way of understanding the pleasures of Psychogeography... really brings out a sense of the atmosphere... I can almost smell the Formica tabletops through the monitor. Congratulations..." That's what we like to hear, and that's how we like to hear it. Keep 'em coming...

Apr 4 2005
	Cafe Torino 1955: "It was pleasantly old-fashioned with tall, arched windows... wrought-iron tables with marble tops.. you could talk for hours over a small cup of coffee. There were dark Italians huddled in earnest discussions, suddenly bursting into furious argument and pale artists and poets searching half-heartedly for jobs" Cafe Torino Special

Mar 30 2005
	Pollo: The weeks leading up to March 2005 have seen the Centrale, Cappuccetto, and Pollo cafes in Soho all destroyed. (The Presto had, of course, been horrifically 're-fitted' years earlier). The Pollo, Soho's favourite cheapo Italian for generations, was this week unceremoniously dismantled and dumped on Old Compton St after being closed for months... Pollo Special

Mar 29 2005
	Sparrows Can't Sing: "Underneath the headlong frivolity, Joan Littlewood is intent on showing the communal richness of true working-class life... she sees it being dissipated by commercialized culture, by spreading middle-classism. Something valuable is going, along with all that was once inhuman, vicious, degrading..."   Sparrows Can't Sing special

Mar 26 2005
	RIP Sitges, Catalunya: Pension Can Julian's pleasantly hidden-away cafe bar looks like an old 1960s Spanish home: caramel coloured chairs and tables, odd junkshop family paintings, part-Deco doorway... a stairway in the corner leads up to the engagingly weathered hotel area... Take the Classic Cafes Sitges tour here: Can Julian, Xatet, Roy & Bar Port Alegre

Mar 23 2005

'Rain on the Pavements' Roland Camberton 1951: "they found themselves drifting with uneasy excitement up the Strand and into Leicester Square... ambling up and down back-streets till they reached the wholly fascinating land of Soho. Moisture covered the windows of the cafes into which they scarcely dared look... they entered an Italian cafe, and in the furthest corner table ordered small white coffees. They sat saying nothing, scarcely looking or listening, nourishing themselves on the purest air of romance..." Rain on the Pavements & Scamp ::

Mar 17 2005
	Two Left Feet: "From David Stuart Leslie's novel In My Solitude (1960)... no less than six caff scenes... flavoursome London locations make for an entertaining look at teen life... the bleak, desperate tone gives more depth than is found in most similar films of the period... Watch out for Mike Leigh smashing up a caff..." Two Left Feet

Mar 16 2005
	Pellicci Family Personal Archive: The photos here (ranging from the 1930s to the 1980s) have all been kindly provided by the Pellicci's from their family archive. As well as old shots of the premises there are affecting portraits of family members, an original 1939 Ministry of Food license and a Xmas card from the Krays... Pellicci Photo Archive Special

Mar 12 2005
	Copper Grill: "I started in the catering business in 1959 with a sandwich bar outside Chancery Lane tube. I was 23... then I got this place in Eldon St. At that time cafes were the big thing. By 1950-51 people had come back from the war and the government had decided office workers should have a hot meal every day..." Copper Grill Special

Mar 11 2005
	Iain Sinclair: these portraits for the Classic Cafes book from five years ago (long thought lost) have just re-surfaced. The shots were taken at the grand old Copper Grill near Liverpool St. The Copper Grill closed due to street demolition on June 2004, these salvaged prints give a flavour of its magnificence... Iain Sinclair interview at The Copper Grill

Mar 9 2005
	Exciting caff verité additions: Updated Redchurch & New Piccadilly photo specials: our new Redchurch pics focus on tonality, dramatic aerial views and gothic-script signs... the New Piccadilly set sees Lorenzo Marioni wielding a large salami (to great comic effect) alongside unflinching digital studies of the cafe's olde-worlde cassette rack and cash register. Enjoy...

Mar 7 2005
	Daily Telegraph: Feature and leader (a caff first for a UK broadsheet)) on the the mighty Pellicci's listing... 'An East End cafe that once served coffee to the Krays has been awarded listed building status in an unusual step by English Heritage... a rare example of the stylish Italian cafe that flourished in the inter-war years...' Daily Telegraph, see also BBC:Inside Out

Mar 3 2005
	Cafe Confessionals: Uncut, unvarnished, unashamed - true tales of those who lived through the golden age of Formica! Delinquent biker grove the Square Deal caff; the sinful Pam Pam coffee bar; the jazz-inflamed French cafe; reeking cesspit of vice the Gyre & Gimble cellars; gangland rendezvous The Harmony. Extraordinary caffs; extraordinary stories...

Mar 2 2005

Classic NKVD: "The NKVD, which later evolved into the KGB, was paranoid about its agents colliding with [British] officialdom. Suggested rendezvous points included... Hendon Public Park, Chelsea Town Hall and the ABC Cafe opposite Ealing Broadway Tube station. Spies were warned that the British cafe was a strange beast, advising: 'It should be clearly understood they are quite different and less suitable than Continental ones. Sundays should be avoided'"... Daily Telegraph ::

Mar 1 2005
	Rosa's E1: Bud Flanagan once lived above the shop (there's still a music hall shrine in the cafe)... signed Gilbert & George ephemera once lined the walls... After the Market Cafe on Fournier Street vanished, Rosa's became the G&G local. Despite the celebrity kudos and tourist coaches, Rosa's remains a pleasant relic selling cheap grub to great effect... Rosa's E1 Special

Feb 24 2005

Secret City: Psychogeography and the End of London: Excellent primer on the subject by Phil Baker: "The word psychogeography was increasingly in vogue in 1990s London... It originated in the 1950s with the French avant-garde-cum-revolutionary group the Lettrists, who later became the Situationists, and it first appears in Guy Debords's 'Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography' (1955)... 'The sectors of a city are, at a certain level, readable. But the meaning that they have had for us personally in incommunicable, like the clandestiny of private life, of which we possess only a few pitiful documents'" ::

Feb 23 2005

Mark Gould's Guardian feature today focuses on the English Heritage listing of the E Pellicci cafe in Bethnal Green (read Mark's full uncut version of the piece here) and the issues it raises about the cloning of the British high streets. Also... another forthcoming caff TV special filmed in the New Piccadilly (in a similar vein to The Guardian piece) goes out on BBC2's prime-time Working Lunch business programme today 1.30pm... ::

Feb 22 2005
	Cappuccetto destroyed: Alongside the recent losses of the much-loved Centrale and Pollo, another Soho landmark vanishes as hotel developments hollow out East Soho. The Ristorante at Moor Street has closed (its ocean-liner cabin basement was once a favourite of Tom Jones & The Pretty Things), and the chalet styled Patisserie nearby has been re-modelled...

Feb 17 2005
	Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky: J B Priestley praised Patrick Hamilton's genius for evoking "a kind of No Man's Land of shabby hotels, dingy boarding houses... [a] malevolence coming out of some mysterious darkness of evil". Let's hope it translates to TV in the forthcoming BBC4 film of this Moribundian classic ... More Patrick Hamilton

Feb 16 2005
	Marioni Mania: A new TV movie by Richard 'Notting Hill' Curtis called 'The Girl in the Cafe' was filmed in the New Piccadilly recently. Featuring Bill Nighy and Kelly Macdonald, it's out in June and threatens to turn New Picc owner Lorenzo Marioni into the mainstream modern figurehead he so richly deserves to be...

Feb 11 2005
	Pellicci's E2 acquires listed building status: A massive moral victory. Finally, English Heritage are starting to take vernacular British high street architecture seriously. Alongside Alfredo's in Islington (Grade II listing), Pellicci's is probably one of the only proper caffs to be preserved for the nation by a government body. See architectural critic Tom Dyckhoff's piece in The Times ...

Check out the rest of the 2005 Classic Cafes News Archives >> Here...