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Coffee Bars In Sheffield In The 1950 And 60s

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1 hour ago, whitehorses said:

Does anyone remember this cafe? It was a haunt for teddy boys and was meeting place for the Kelvin gang of teds in 1956 were you one of them, do you know anyone who was? and do you remember this coffee bar ?

Was this the one with the counter facing you as you went in curtain across for a kitchen pies on the counter?

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I don't know, I am asking for my FIL who was reminiscing about his Teddy boy days and wondered if anyone remembered it. Although it was 1956 he went there and the owner was called Horace  and wore a white jacket, I suppose like Italian coffee bars of that era !

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I used to use this cafe because I was a Hoover Rep and we held our morning meeting  there.

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3 hours ago, whitehorses said:

I don't know, I am asking for my FIL who was reminiscing about his Teddy boy days and wondered if anyone remembered it. Although it was 1956 he went there and the owner was called Horace  and wore a white jacket, I suppose like Italian coffee bars of that era !

As I remember it was on the kelvin flats side of the road and moved to the opposite side of Infirmary Road due to demolition.

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12 hours ago, retep said:

As I remember it was on the kelvin flats side of the road and moved to the opposite side of Infirmary Road due to demolition.

due to the demolition of what?

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Just now, MICK BADGER said:

due to the demolition of what?

The old cafe and the surrounding area.

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I and a pal of mine were a couple of Teddy boys in that era and we used the Coronation Cafe all the time as well as a lot of the street corner pubs in the Kelvin at that time!.It was across the road from Langsett Cycles Infirmary Road,the owner Horace was a right little ray of sunshine stood behind the counter in his short little white jacket and dickie bow!.He looked as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders!.A favourite snack of ours was the pie and peas priced 1/6pence and a mug of tea,the pie was always pork,we always called in after a night at the Roscoe Pictures on Shalesmore !.Only once did I see any trouble there and it was not caused by the Teds it was a nutcase bouncer from the dance place at the top of Wood Street who barged in one night when it was full and offered to fight everyone in the place,the place fell silent nobody moved and he stood there until he realised what a dick he was and shut the door and wandered off to pick trouble somewhere else!.Later on when I was a driver salesman at the Brooms Don Bakery when I finished my journey each day my vanboy and I always stopped there for our dinners,it was 60yrs ago and it only seems like yesterday!.

 

Edited by old tup

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On 28/01/2018 at 18:25, bullerboY said:

Disc Jockey

HI Bullerboy

I have just been reading the Coffee bars in Sheffield in the 1950s

can you remember which corner the Coronation cafe was in post 1969

when it was opposite the kelvin flats

thanks Mick

Edited by MICK BADGER

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Does anyone remember the 'In and Out' ... probably was around the Union Street/Cambridge Arcade area. Awesome Chip Butties

 

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20 hours ago, old tup said:

I and a pal of mine were a couple of Teddy boys in that era and we used the Coronation Cafe all the time as well as a lot of the street corner pubs in the Kelvin at that time!.It was across the road from Langsett Cycles Infirmary Road,the owner Horace was a right little ray of sunshine stood behind the counter in his short little white jacket and dickie bow!.He looked as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders!.A favourite snack of ours was the pie and peas priced 1/6pence and a mug of tea,the pie was always pork,we always called in after a night at the Roscoe Pictures on Shalesmore !.Only once did I see any trouble there and it was not caused by the Teds it was a nutcase bouncer from the dance place at the top of Wood Street who barged in one night when it was full and offered to fight everyone in the place,the place fell silent nobody moved and he stood there until he realised what a dick he was and shut the door and wandered off to pick trouble somewhere else!.Later on when I was a driver salesman at the Brooms Don Bakery when I finished my journey each day my vanboy and I always stopped there for our dinners,it was 60yrs ago and it only seems like yesterday!.

 

Hi,

I am going to copy your post to my Father in law who was in the 'Kelvin Gang' and was a Teddy Boy at  the same time as you, he is going to love your memories, if you remember anything else please add it. He has been telling me lots about going to the Roscoe or 'Sco' as he calls it. He was saying that they used  to hang off the balcony as it was very low, also used to sneak in  and out and generally annoy the usher/ette

They always hung around in the coronmation cafe.

 

I will include an excerpt of what he had to say about the Roscoe, hope it sparks more memories for you :

 

Roscoe was unusual inasmuch that the balcony,  was ony about 8 feet high, and when we couldn't get in downstairs we used to wait while the second half, we used to jump over the balcony to get among our gang mates who were down below. There used to be two houses then, one at 6.oo pm. Then one at 8.00. PM (same film) so you could stay in and watch the film over again. I recall how 'our' often about 9 or 10 Ted's. At some point during the film, we would all light a fag up, and blow huge volumes of smoke up into the projection beam. Certainly caused a fog. I recall that at the Unity cinema at the top of  Wood St (higher up Infirmary Rd on the left) we would go down the queue and tell everyone to go to the toilet (which was behind the screen on the left) at 9.O clock. It became known as the 9 o clock walk, and caused quite a stir with about fifty or sixty Ted all blocking the aisles etc. We got away with it for a couple of weeks, then one night as we marched down the aisle towards the screen and the toilet, the attendants opened the side door, and we were shepherded out into the street, but it was a good laugh while it lasted. I feel sorry now, for the poor folk who had paid to actually see the film. Because mostvweeks it was absolute mayhem, with Ted's fighting with attendants and people shouting out obscenities during the film. How cinema going has changed. But we didn't have much else back then. 

 

 

 

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Talking about the Roscoe I started going there as a schoolkid Saturday mornings at the tanner rush as it was called!.We used to go to most so called Picture Palaces,Roscoe,Unity,Kinema,Park Cinema and  the one at the top of Barrack Hill I forget the name and the one behind the Infirmary likewise forgotten!.We had a running joke at school about the balcony in the Roscoe such as "There was a suicide in the Roscoe last night,a bloke threw himself off the balcony!",I don,t think so it was only 8ft high at the most!.As I aged my place to take girlfriends was the Roscoe,always meeting them inside of course as cash was tight!.With all the Teds going there they had bouncers who were kept very busy every night,especialy around bonfire night as a favourite game was setting off bangers and rockets in the toilets filling the place with smoke,its a wonder to me the place didn,t burn down!.

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Brilliant, Old Tup-I passed your thoughts on to my Father in law and he had this to say :

 

Hiya, this guy remembers it well, going to the flicks at the Sco was a nightmare for anyone who had actually gone to see the film.  I remember that there were people shouting out obscenities too. Won't repeat them here. I got thrown out buy a big bouncer they had there for fighting with another Ted. Going back to tales of the Coronation Cafe, He has reminded me of the pie & peas, how could I forget? They were delicious and we had them regularly. I'm also reminded of Horace in his bow tie, yeah they were great times. The picture house behind the Infirmary was called the Oxford and was across from the Upperthorpe Library baths & wash house,

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