Oh my god I cannot tell you how much I love the cafe in Bradbeers, New Milton. That a small, down at heel, market town manages to sustain the oldest of old-school, Are You Being Served, type department store complete with huge haberdashery and "curtain estimator" (a phrase that sticks in my head like an earworm) is a wonderful thing, and the sense of melancholic peace that settles on me as I sit down among the purple rinses to enjoy a sausage sandwich and steel pot of tea is immense.
I have hazy memories of a Japanese restaurant in The Daks men's shop on Piccadilly (now Waterstone's): I recall it was at the intersection of kitch and exotic.
PS I was once forgotten" by my mother in the hosiery department of Bloomingdales in NYC. The saleslady (sic) marched me over to a security guard, who took me to an office and made a lost child announcement. After some time ( during which I made paper dolls from a fashion catalogue), the guard suggested I call Home. Following a discussion with my mother, he took me downstairs, hailed a taxi and sent me on my way. Those were the days.
This is delightful. And department store cafes are about the only places left (other than hospital canteens) where you can get thick slabs of old-school cakes untouched by current trends.
Always always visit a department store cafe when I can. Not only do they have the virtues you describe, they are generally roomy and close to loo's. I particularly love the ones in De Bijenkorf in Amsterdam (apple cake), and Ahlens in Stockholm. Fond memories of the cream cheese and walnut sandwich and the salad in the Macy's in the Lima Mall in Lima Ohio. I do miss the old style cafeteria in Selfridges though.
I adore this piece. Some of my finest childhood memories took place in department store cafes in Limassol and Larnaca, my grandparents' favourite hangouts.
I hope this counts - my top recommendation would be the ice cream parlour in Fortnum and Mason's. So fun to watch smartly dressed posh types trying to politely eat the tiny ice cream cone they give you with your coffee. Plus the sundaes are delicious.
Lovely story. I grew up in Southern California with the same experience at Broadway and May Company. Once at the relatively downscale Newberry’s which would only last a few years longer. I eventually worked as an advertising director at May Company and the restaurant was a great place to escape the high pressure of 1980’s high fashion insanity.
As penance for those days I live a simple life bouncing between Constantinople and Mount Athos.
Yesss!Karstadt in Neukoln, how can it still exist, but it does. The top floor cafeteria , and its weird out of time, but dearly loved offerings is absolutely irresistible.
Right about the facilities nearby: the reason I used to head for nay branch of John Lewis with small children and babies. JLP customers have cornered the market in outright rude: such entitlement, such hostility.
The last department store cafe in Brighton lurked in C&H fabrics, a textile department store if that qualifies: the cafe certainly did, staffed by old hands and, the holy grail, serving at least some home made food. Of course it’s gone, but now we have a new department store cafe: just inside Ikea, serving hot dogs, buns and coffees at the rate of knots, sit if you dare, or stand outside if you don’t !
Oh my god I cannot tell you how much I love the cafe in Bradbeers, New Milton. That a small, down at heel, market town manages to sustain the oldest of old-school, Are You Being Served, type department store complete with huge haberdashery and "curtain estimator" (a phrase that sticks in my head like an earworm) is a wonderful thing, and the sense of melancholic peace that settles on me as I sit down among the purple rinses to enjoy a sausage sandwich and steel pot of tea is immense.
I have hazy memories of a Japanese restaurant in The Daks men's shop on Piccadilly (now Waterstone's): I recall it was at the intersection of kitch and exotic.
PS I was once forgotten" by my mother in the hosiery department of Bloomingdales in NYC. The saleslady (sic) marched me over to a security guard, who took me to an office and made a lost child announcement. After some time ( during which I made paper dolls from a fashion catalogue), the guard suggested I call Home. Following a discussion with my mother, he took me downstairs, hailed a taxi and sent me on my way. Those were the days.
This is delightful. And department store cafes are about the only places left (other than hospital canteens) where you can get thick slabs of old-school cakes untouched by current trends.
When I was about 7 having fish and chips at BHS in the Whitgift Centre in East Croydon was the the biggest treat.
Always always visit a department store cafe when I can. Not only do they have the virtues you describe, they are generally roomy and close to loo's. I particularly love the ones in De Bijenkorf in Amsterdam (apple cake), and Ahlens in Stockholm. Fond memories of the cream cheese and walnut sandwich and the salad in the Macy's in the Lima Mall in Lima Ohio. I do miss the old style cafeteria in Selfridges though.
I adore this piece. Some of my finest childhood memories took place in department store cafes in Limassol and Larnaca, my grandparents' favourite hangouts.
I hope this counts - my top recommendation would be the ice cream parlour in Fortnum and Mason's. So fun to watch smartly dressed posh types trying to politely eat the tiny ice cream cone they give you with your coffee. Plus the sundaes are delicious.
Lovely story. I grew up in Southern California with the same experience at Broadway and May Company. Once at the relatively downscale Newberry’s which would only last a few years longer. I eventually worked as an advertising director at May Company and the restaurant was a great place to escape the high pressure of 1980’s high fashion insanity.
As penance for those days I live a simple life bouncing between Constantinople and Mount Athos.
Yesss!Karstadt in Neukoln, how can it still exist, but it does. The top floor cafeteria , and its weird out of time, but dearly loved offerings is absolutely irresistible.
Right about the facilities nearby: the reason I used to head for nay branch of John Lewis with small children and babies. JLP customers have cornered the market in outright rude: such entitlement, such hostility.
The last department store cafe in Brighton lurked in C&H fabrics, a textile department store if that qualifies: the cafe certainly did, staffed by old hands and, the holy grail, serving at least some home made food. Of course it’s gone, but now we have a new department store cafe: just inside Ikea, serving hot dogs, buns and coffees at the rate of knots, sit if you dare, or stand outside if you don’t !