Spardo:
And then there was the dockers’ canteen in the Royal Docks in London.
Anyone know what that was like? I never got to try it out. We were banned you see. Just as we were made to use the ‘Asian’ toilets. Unclean lorry drivers.
Another fine example of the TGWU brotherhood.
BTW, before anyone cries ‘racist’, I prefer the so-called ‘Asian’ toilets. So much more hygienic when clean, no bodily contact. Called ‘a la Turq’, there are many still in France.
Salut, David.
The toilets in CHEP in West Bromwich have been locked and you have to use the toilette a la turq, or go to the office and ask for the key.
Apparently, the brothers would use the conventional toilet but stand on the seat and break them.
Went past a single storey cafe on the A4 this week. On “vain in labour hill” between Beckhampton and Calne @ Cherill. Was it a transport cafe years ago,if so what was it called?.
Can remember the Ridgeway and the Golden Arrow further East but not this one
Hi Suedhead,
When I used to go up the A4 in the sixties the last building on the right on the long drag up from Calne/Cherhill was the White Horse Cafe. A public footpath ran from the cafe to the white horse on the hill which overlooked if. There was also a monument up there.
I have not been past for years but it was laterly in use as a house. After passing the cafe there was the huge RAF camp on the other side of the road complete with an old plane at the main gate. You would never realise that today driving past all the open ground where the camp used to be.
Cheers Phil.
Numbum:
Hi Suedhead,
When I used to go up the A4 in the sixties the last building on the right on the long drag up from Calne/Cherhill was the White Horse Cafe. A public footpath ran from the cafe to the white horse on the hill which overlooked if. There was also a monument up there.
I have not been past for years but it was laterly in use as a house. After passing the cafe there was the huge RAF camp on the other side of the road complete with an old plane at the main gate. You would never realise that today driving past all the open ground where the camp used to be.
Cheers Phil.
There are still some of the buildings visible from the A4,Yatesbury airfield?
I called at Kate’s Kabin today as i had heard it had closed - sadly if has, the fencing all pulled round so the car park is kept clear, going to try and get a photo in the morning.
Back to some postings in Jan/Feb.
Jiffy Snacks (Known also as Sniffy Jacks) on the A20 near Ashford, Kent was another victim of “burning-down syndrome” some years ago, but this was soon after, (alledgedly) planning permission was refused I seem to remember. It was rebuilt and is now called “The Blue & White Cafe” and is more for smal commercials due to limited parking. There are also a lot of older people use it as it is clean, reasonably priced and the grub is good.
The “Airport Cafe” at Sellindge, further down on the A20, also does very good food and is open 7 days a week. They get quite a few Bikers, VW Campers and other “civies” in there. When I had a breakfast there the other Sunday, the place was heaving.
What was the cafe at Lenham called that had the same, alledgedly, “burning-down syndrome” mentioned previously in this post? ( Two Days on and I’ve been told it was “The Rose of Tralee”) It’s now a Transport Yard. I used to use it in the late 60’s when I worked for I Beer & Sons (wholesale groceries) and it was well used by other Ashford drivers, and also SPD, Birds Eye & S.E.Thomas, all out of Aylesford. One day, my mate ordered his Tea & 2 Toast, paid his money then produced 2 Eggs from his pocket and said “Do me a favour love, fry them and put them on my toast” Bloddy cheek, but they did it. Another time, he had been dunking a rock cake in a cup of tea in one of the cafes near Brands Hatch. When he’d eaten the cake, he took his cup back to the counter and said loudly, “Fill that up love, that rock cake was so dry it’s drunk half my bloody tea”. Again, he got away with it. Are there still blokes like him out there?
Gone off the Old Cafe thread, sorry, but enough for now anyway.
Cheers, Cliff Boulton.
Cliff Boulton:
Back to some postings in Jan/Feb.
Jiffy Snacks (Known also as Sniffy Jacks) on the A20 near Ashford, Kent was another victim of “burning-down syndrome” some years ago, but this was soon after planning permission was refused I seem to remember. It was rebuilt and is now called “The Blue & White Cafe” and is more for smal commercials due to limited parking. There are also a lot of older people use it as it is clean, reasonably priced and the grub is good.
The “Airport Cafe” at Sellindge, further down on the A20, also does very good food and is open 7 days a week. They get quite a few Bikers, VW Campers and other “civies” in there. When I had a breakfast there the other Sunday, the place was heaving.
What was the cafe at Lenham called that had the same “burning-down syndrome” mentioned in a previous post? It’s now a Transport Yard. I used to use it in the late 60’s when I worked for I Beer & Sons (wholesale groceries) and it was well used by other Ashford drivers, and also SPD, Birds Eye & S.E.Thomas, all out of Aylesford. One day, my mate ordered his Tea & 2 Toast, paid his money then produced 2 Eggs from his pocket and said “Do me a favour love, fry them and put them on my toast” Bloddy cheek, but they did it. Another time, he had been dunking a rock cake in a cup of tea in one of the cafes near Brands Hatch. When he’d eaten the cake, he took his cup back to the counter and said loudly, “Fill that up love, that rock cake was so dry it’s drunk half my bloody tea”. Again, he got away with it. Are there still blokes like him out there? We had a driver that worked for us in the '70’s and when he used the motorway services for breakfast he’d order his egg to be “well fried” so he then paid for his tea and two toast and then when he got to the table he took the egg out of his overall pocket,brushed the fluff off it ,slapped it between the toast and wey! Hey! !! Bewick.
Gone off the Old Cafe thread, sorry, but enough for now anyway.
Cheers, Cliff Boulton.
A sad sight indeed LB. Why is it so in England these days? A place like that on a main route to the north, and it goes out of business. I haven’t been there for years, was it so bad?
I have just completed last week several runs which took me from the Dordogne to Cahors to Lyon to Narbonne to Alsace and Paris before returning home. 5 nights away from home and I had no trouble at all in finding a good place to eat and sleep every night. On the RN7 in the Rhone Valley there were so many, some next door to each other and all much bigger than Kate’s, that I gave up noting for my own routiers map all the ones I didn’t already have marked.
I count myself very lucky to live and travel in this country.
I hadn’t realised Kates Kabin had closed down completely. I was up there on Bank Holiday Monday and thought it was a strange day to close. I went just further north to Stibbington, on the southbound side near the Nene Valley Railway, but yu can cross over. A very reasonable place I thought.
Hi Bewick I remember them digs in Stone when i was driving good place good food nice people but you had to book early a lot of the china clay boys stayed there,a good pub across the road
Cracking painting by Allan, his stuff is brilliant, he did some callenders years ago for me the were the best ones Ive ever had, Smiles for Miles Atki YTY520 was driven from new by Bobby Meggs, a great lad, he worked for Smiles for a long time & ended his days working for J.R.Henderson from Newburn when Smiles ceased trading in 1995, he is still about today enjoying a long retirement from the haulage game like myself, bring back the good old days Eh, Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
Cracking painting by Allan, his stuff is brilliant, he did some callenders years ago for me the were the best ones Ive ever had, Smiles for Miles Atki YTY520 was driven from new by Bobby Meggs, a great lad, he worked for Smiles for a long time & ended his days working for J.R.Henderson from Newburn when Smiles ceased trading in 1995, he is still about today enjoying a long retirement from the haulage game like myself, bring back the good old days Eh, Regards Larry.
Whose is the AEC MK5 Larry,looks like it’s from Meadowfield but I can’t make out the name.
It might be one of Wilfred Whites, their motors were blue livery, & they used to have depot in London I cant remember the location, but I used to load fruit at London Docks off them quite often they allways seemed to have plenty of work in those days, Regards Larry.
