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At the top is an addition to last week’s selection of present-day Rhyl cafes and restaurants. It is the Bridge Cafe in Kinmel Street which has the offices of Coastline Taxis above. Photograph by Yours Truly.
The other photos are from Rhyl History Club Community Archive: a 1970s black-and-white photo of what I call Russell Cafe but clearly ought to be referred to as ‘The Russell’ which was in Russell Road, and a 1960s picture of Roose’s Bar B-Q Cafe & Coffee Bar which was No.7 Queen Street next to National Westminster Bank.
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Some years ago Ted Groome of St Asaph, who was a soldier billeted in Rhyl during World War 2 recalled:
“We liked to pop in for a cuppa at Wally Spraggs’ little cafe which is long gone. It was at No.1 Crescent Square; there was a handy courtyard at the back for our bicycles. Sidoli’s (Wellington Road) was a favourite meeting place for soldiers and girlfriends. The coffee was good and there was always a warm welcome from the three Sidoli ladies who managed the place. They were Angiolina (Angie), Esterina and Scolastica (Scolly).”
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Turning to more recent times, Wayne Chadwick remembers Polish Joe’s in Abbey Street:
Polish Joe’s served a breakfast and a half! A ‘belly buster’ was about £6.25 way back in the early 90's but it could feed a family (4 sausages, 4 bacon, 3 eggs, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, hash browns, fried slice, as much toast as you could eat, as much tea or coffee as you could drink, pork chop, 8oz steak, chips, and if you could finish it all he used to put your name on his 'wall of fame' and the next one was free. Wayne continues,
On the opposite side of Abbey Street there was a small cafe run by Mr & Mrs Jeavons with some help from their daughter Sam; they were very nice people. At the top end of Abbey Street there was Carol’s Plaice which was a good chippy. All the Abbey street cafes and restaurants have gone now.-----
FRI 27th AUG 2010 UPDATE: Geoff Hughes writes re Roose’s B-Q: "The cafe was located on the opposite side of Queen Street from the Nat West Bank, next to Maltby's Butchers. The cafe is now known as The Dragon Boat Chinese restaurant; Maltby's is now The Godfather takeaway. The property numbering in Queen Street was changed in the late sixties/early seventies which can cause confusion!
This also happened in Bodfor Street. Our family's business, Clement Hughes the ironmongers (now Corbetts Betting Shop) was originally numbered 6 Bodfor Street, but was changed to 18 Bodfor Street at the same time.
This change of property numbering probably occurred in some other Rhyl streets, changing over to odd numbers on one side of the street and evens on the other side."
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MON 30th AUG 2010 UPDATE: George Owen has kindly sent the following photograph marked 1940 showing Wilton's Cafe, forerunner of ‘The Russell’:
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The cutting is from a 1947 newspaper supplied by Peter Trehearn. The Hallé Orchestra and star soloist Moura Lympany (above) were quite a draw and only the Pavilion would have had enough seats. The Hallé, I suspect, might have preferred the acoustics in the Queens Theatre, West Parade, where they had played earlier in 1940s during World War 2.
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