Cyril's Cafe on London road (A45), Stretton on Dunsmore. 1930s
IMAGE LOCATION: (Warwickshire County Record Office)
Reference: PH, 352/174/11, img: 2851
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Bob's Cafe 2008, rather derelict!
Photo by Benjamin Earl.
Site of Bob's Cafe, 2014. Note the doorway.
Photo by Benjamin Earl.
The demise of the Dun Cow has been dealt with elsewhere on this site, but the other side of the War Memorial roundabout sees another local landmark. In existence pre-war as Cyril’s Road House, Bob’s Cafe established itself as a greasy spoon of some local fame! Come the 21st century the site was derelict, and a car dealership has recently opened on site. Although a new build, look closely and you can see the original door frame to Bob’s Cafe.
Comments
In the 1970s I worked as a Systems Programmer at GEC Telecommunications in Coventry. We were allowed to update the computer system between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. When we had finished our updates, we would all adjourn to Bob’s Café for our breakfast. It was an absolutely huge fry-up with a giant mug of tea. I don’t remember the exact price but it was very cheap. Two things that stick in my mind were a huge bowl of sugar on the counter with a teaspoon chained to the counter and the pinball machines. The pinball machines were real classics and usually made us late back to work!
I worked as a Systems Programmer at Massey Ferguson in the late 70s and obviously went to the wrong place, as they didn’t have facilities like that available – sounds like heaven to me!
“Sausage, egg, chips and beans.” Must’ve been called out a hundred times a night. Anyone remember Nancy?
Integral part of the Cafe Racer scene in the midlands, equally as important as that place on the North Circular, also a favourite stopover for rock bands travelling up and down the country in ropey old vans.
I took a photo of the rebuilding on 4th July 2013 (American Independence Day). It was great to see the site being used again, and even better to see the handsome entrance being preserved – congratulations to the architect and the planners.
I visited Bob’s many times in the fifties and sixties with my dad. In the middle of the night the place was packed with other drivers and the park was crammed with lorries. Double egg and chicks – nirvana!! Anyone remember Trudy?
Cyril was my nans uncle & she loved visiting him & ivy at the cafe as a kid in the 40s. I’m trying to research the family for her & she loved the photo I found of the cafe. If anyone has any stories or photos I could show her, that would be amazing.
Hi Kerry,
Thanks for the comment. I’ll put the word out 🙂 Of course if your Nan has any stories she’d like to share of her visits, we’d love to have them too!
My parents ran Bob’s Cafe for a year around 1971/72. Does anyone remember it being run by Ricky & Betty? It was not much fun for the family as our parents worked very hard, but we did have pinball machines and a jukebox.
I used to visit with my dad here about midnight, he used to drive for Geoffrey Rayners ltd, he would set of with a full load from Droylsden, and meet up with a Hammond Transport driver from London. They then swapped trailers and then it was fry up time.
I used to drive for Oldhams transport and Bob’s café was first stop for a great breakfast before our trips to London and the south.
As driver in the 50’s this our 2nd stop of night. This was one of the best stops for meals on the A45 Thursdays was kidneys on toast, if wanted some you had to phone in the and order for the night stop. Other stop was Auto Cafe for B&B, stayed there three or five times a week. Brilliant staff in both places. That brought back many memories of the knight’s of the road in those days when people helped people David, ex Lanham’s transport.
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