Kardomah Cafés were a chain of coffee shops in England, Wales, and a few in Paris, popular from the early 1900s until the 1960s, but now almost defunct. They featured live entertainment provided by string quartets.

History

The company that created the Kardomah brand began in Pudsey Street, Liverpool in 1844 as the Vey Brothers teadealers and grocers. In 1868 the business was acquired by the newly created Liverpool China and India Tea Company, and a series of brand names was created beginning with ''Mikado''. The ''Kardomah'' brand of tea was first served at the Liverpool colonial exhibition of 1887, and the brand was later applied to a range of teas, coffees and coffee houses. The parent company was renamed Kardomah Limited in 1938. The brand was acquired by the

Forte Group Forte Group plc was a British hotel and restaurant company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it was acquired by Granada in 1996. Its head office was in the London Borough of Camden. ...

in 1962, sold to Cadbury/Schweppes/Typhoo in 1971, and became part of

Premier Brands Premier Foods plc is a British food manufacturer headquartered in St Albans, Hertfordshire. The group owns many well-known brands, including Mr Kipling, Ambrosia, Bird's Custard, Angel Delight, Homepride cooking sauces, Lyons, Sharwood's, Loyd ...

some time between 1980 and 1997. The brand still exists, selling items such as

instant coffee Instant coffee is a beverage derived from brewed coffee beans that enables people to quickly prepare hot coffee by adding hot water or milk to coffee solids in powdered or crystallized form and stirring. Instant coffee solids (also called sol ...

and coffee whitener. The Kardomah Cafés in London and Manchester were designed by Sir Misha Black between 1936 and 1950. The last remaining Kardomah cafe is in Swansea, south Wales. The original Swansea branch was at 232 High St, and known as 'The Kardomah Exhibition Cafe & Tea Rooms', moving to the Castle Street in 1908. The Castle Street cafe was the meeting place of

The Kardomah Gang The Kardomah Gang,The Kardomah Boys, or Kardomah Group was a group of bohemian friends – artists, musicians, poets and writers – who, in the 1930s, frequented the Kardomah Café in Castle Street, Swansea, Wales. Members of the Gang ...

, which included Dylan Thomas,"Caff Gazetteer #2"
Classic Cafes, accessed 2011-05-14 and was built on the site of the former Congregational Chapel where Thomas's parents were married in 1903. The cafe was bombed during WW2 (the Blitz of 19 to 21 February 1941) and was later replaced by the present Kardomah Coffee Shop Restaurant in Portland Street which was opened in 1957. It retains its original interior virtually untouched, including Formica tables with a design of coffee beans, sputnik style coat racks, mosaic tiled columns and dark wood panelling. The cafe has been run by the Luporini family since 1970 and remains a beloved Swansea institution.

Other locations

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

(opposite Snow Hill Station, and New Street) * Blackpool (Promenade) *

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

(St Andrew's Street) *

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

(Queen Street) * Chester (Eastgate Street) *

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

(Cornmarket), 1940s to 1980s * Hull ( Whitefriargate) *

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable ...

(Wood Street) *

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

(65 to 66 Briggate), 1908 to 1965 *

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

(30 Bold Street), (37 Castle Street), (21 Church Street), (42 Dale Street), (14 Redcross Street), (1-3 Rumford Place,)(corner of Whitechapel & Stanley Street) *

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

(186 Piccadilly, Fleet Street,

Southampton Row The A4200 is a major thoroughfare in central London. It runs between the A4 at Aldwych, to the A400 Hampstead Road/Camden High Street, at Mornington Crescent tube station. Kingsway Kingsway is a major road in central London, designa ...

, Kingsway,

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its root ...

) *

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

(Albert Square), 1950s * Manchester (Market Street). * Manchester (St Ann's Square). *

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

(King Street) *

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

(Cornmarket Street) *

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

(1 Rue de l'Échelle, corner of

Rue de Rivoli Rue de Rivoli (; English: "Rivoli Street") is a street in central Paris, France. It is a commercial street whose shops include leading fashionable brands. It bears the name of Napoleon's early victory against the Austrian army, at the Battle of R ...

) * Preston (Fishergate), closed 1966 *

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

(Lord Street) *Richmond (George Street) 1974-1982 *

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

(Thames St, opposite the Curfew Tower)

Kardomah-branded products

* Kardomah Kee-Mun Tea (fl.1936) * Kardomah Tea-Tasting Cabinet (1952) * Kardomah Products

In popular culture

A branch in the fictional town of Milford is one of the meeting places used by Alec and Laura in the 1945 film ''

Brief Encounter ''Brief Encounter'' is a 1945 British romantic drama film directed by David Lean from a screenplay by Noël Coward, based on his 1936 one-act play ''Still Life''. Starring Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, and Joyce Carey, ...

''. It was created on a studio set.Laurie N. Ede, ''British Film Design: A History'', I.B.Tauris, 2010, , p.60 Liverpool's Kardomah Cafe gained popularity for the 1983 song "Kardomah Cafe" by local group

The Cherry Boys The Cherry Boys were an English new wave band from Liverpool, England. The Cherry Boys formed in 1980. They are most notable for the single "Kardomah Cafe", which missed the UK Singles Chart, but was a top 10 hit in Spain. Career The band cons ...

. This branch was also used by the Beatles, and the many Merseybeat groups of the 1960s, who played in the nearby Cavern Club.

References

External links