Nothing new about coffee houses

WHY is coffee like sex? Is it because the younger generation think they invented it?

Andy Phillips certainly gives that impression when he talks of the proliferation of coffee shops in our towns and villages.

I was not around when coffee houses first opened in Britain, because it was as far back as 18th century or before. The mighty insurer, Lloyds of London, is said to have started in a coffee house.

The word café , a place where food and drink is served, actually means coffee.

All that has changed is the name of the company over the door. They used to be mainly privately owned.

In modern times, cafes, usually pronounced ‘caff’ as in ‘goin dahn the caff’ spread like wildfire in 1950s, when espresso coffee machines appeared, allowing purchase of frothy coffee which remains popular.

The singer and comedian Max Bygraves featured the new style coffee in a top hit song “Things Aint what they used to be” having lines which ran ‘There’s Teds in drainpipe trousers and Debs in coffee houses’ And ‘Once our beer was frothy, now its frothy coffee’.

In every town there were ‘coffee bars’ which opened from around 9am until 10pm. The haunt of teenagers, especially motorcyclists, who were known as Coffee Bar Cowboys from our habit of touring cafes and meeting friends in neighbouring towns. In addition, there were transport cafes along all main A roads which became places for teens to meet in the evenings. The horrifying thought though, although coffee was priced at around a shilling, it was probably more expensive than it is now.

■The Ace Café on London’s North Circular Road is still a famous biker café today.

Mike Baker St Austell, Cornwall