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Cadena Cafés Limited was a chain of coffeehouses in South West England. It was established in 1895 under the name Lloyd's Oriental Café, subsequently Lloyd's Cadena Cafés Ltd. It became Cadena Cafés Ltd in 1907 and went on to operate over twenty branches. It took over Paignton-based Dellers Cafés in 1933. It was eventually taken over by Tesco in January 1965 and the cafés closed during the 1970s. It was listed on the Bristol Stock Exchange; from 1927 to at least 1950, its AGMs were fully reported by the Western Daily Press.

Expansion

In 1902, Lloyds Oriental Café had branches in Bristol, Oxford, Hastings, Southsea, Tunbridge Wells and Richmond which served a coffee blend they called "Cadena". In 1919, the company – by then itself known as Cadena – purchased the Cheltenham cafés Cosy Corner and the Oriental Café from Ernest Edward Marfell who became a director of the Cadena company. They considerably expanded Cosy Corner. In 1924, Cadena expanded their Wine Street, Bristol branch to include a "grill room" for gentlemen only.

The growth of the company from 1927 can be tracked through the Western Daily Press AGM reports though sometimes similar announcements are made two years running. At their 34th AGM in 1927 they began a long tradition of holding their AGM at the then-new Berkeley Café in Bristol (which is now a Wetherspoons). They replaced their Bournemouth branch with a new one in Christchurch Road and bought a new site in Broad Street, Reading. In 1928 they opened in Oxford, started working in Salisbury and opened a new bakery in Bristol. Reading and Salisbury opened in 1929. Apart from the major acquisition of the Dellers company in 1933, the 1930s saw less expansion with the purchase a Winchester site in 1930 which eventually opened in 1934.

In 1932 and 1934 the company sold more shares and mortgaged some property. The prospectuses give details of company activities and contractual commitments at the time. They therefore provide details of the cafés as they were in the early 1930s.

After this, development of a Worcester café was started in 1936 and opened in 1937 but 1939 saw the closure of the Leamington bakery and the Pantiles café in Tunbridge Wells. The 1940s saw a return to financial health despite wartime taxation. In 1942 they bought land at Brislington for a new bakery planned to be built after the war, and when that eventually opened in 1949 (albeit across the road in an existing building, not new build), they opened a new café at the former bakery site it replaced and launched a new "Cadenita" brand upstairs in the Ritz Cinema, Bristol. (The cinema opened in 1938 but closed thirty years later.)

Documents at Companies House

The Cadena Cafés Limited documents at Companies House are filed under the name Tesco International Internet Retailing Limited following a change of name registered on 5 October 2011. Other documents filed there include:

• Incorporation of Lloyds Oriental Café, 1 January 1900.
• Certificate of Change of Name from Lloyds Oriental Café Limited to Lloyds Cadena Cafés Limited, 12 October 1905.
• Certificate of Change of Name from Lloyds Cadena Cafés Limited to Cadena Cafés Limited, 6 January 1908.

There are also documents relating to legal charges and mortgages:

• Mortgage created 8 August 1921 – Freehold of no.34 (Formerly no.19) Mount Pleasant Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
• Legal Charge created 28 September 1933 – Freehold & leasehold properties known as

1) The Berkeley Café, Clifton, Bristol, (being nos. 15, 17, & 19 Queens Road, nos. 25 to 30 Berkley Square, Bristol).

2) Dellor's Main Café, High Street, Exeter (being situated at 23 & 24 High Street, Catherine Street and Bedford Street Exeter and partly over the building of Lloyds Bank Ltd.)

3) Cadena Café, Reading (being nos. 100 and 101 Broad Street Reading). Together with fixed plant, and machinery fixtures.

• Mortgage created 21 November 1934 – numerous properties

Facilities

The cafés contained a range of different dining rooms for different purposes. For example, the Cadena at the Pantiles, Tunbridge Wells, opened in 1902 with a gentlemen's smoking room and a ladies' tea room. There were plans in Cheltenham in 1919 to add an upstairs "dining salon" and a roof garden and by 1924 Wine Street had a "Grill Room" with a "quick lunch counter". The Berkeley Café was already large enough to hold the AGM in 1927 but was having an additional 250-seat room constructed. In 1931, Botherway's was advertising a ground floor café and "the Connaught suite of rooms" on the first floor. There are frequent mentions in the AGM reports of premises being extended.

The cafés were also music and dance venues. The Cadena at 40 White Rock, Hastings, began "musical afternoon teas" in 1903. The Cosy Corner had a music licence in 1919. In the 1930s, Winchester's Cadena "also served as a ballroom at weekends ... with special dances over the Christmas period." In 1944, Eastgate (Gloucester) was being used as a venue for ballet lessons and public dances.

Wartime

The outbreak of World War I led to mass enlistment and consequently labour shortages. Cadena was taken to court in 1914 for employing a fourteen-year-old in the Bristol bakery for longer than the permitted hours for an underage child. The company apologised but said it had been forced into that position because six of their staff had enlisted.

World War II features far more significantly in the press stories and annual general meeting reports. There was much discussion of wartime taxation. Cafés were destroyed in the Southampton Blitz, the Exeter Blitz and the Bristol Blitz and Cadena struggled to get permission to open temporary branches on the bomb sites. Later, in the Southampton and Exeter redevelopments, the local councils compulsory purchased the land occupied by the shops and leased it back to Cadena, which meant they were now having to pay a lease on land they formerly owned. (This echos retailers' objections to the redevelopment of Plymouth.) In Bristol, they fought the postwar creation of the Broadmead Shopping Centre because it would take business away from the existing shopping centre where the café was located.

Labour relations

The 1914 court case was for requiring a 14-year-old to work excessive hours in the bakery. In 1939, part of the reason for extending the Southampton branch was to comply with the Factory Act, implying that their staff facilities were not state-of-the-art at the time. However in the 1930s they set up a fund to reward loyal staff but also to provide financial support to staff who were struggling financially. At one AGM it was remarked that the directors were all actively employed at Cadena branches or bakeries, and it is noticeable that between 1916 and at least 1950 they only had four different Chairmen:

• John Wheeler Williams resigned in 1932 after 16 years service and received fulsome praise at his final AGM.
• James Edward Grace 1932 - 1937
• E.T. Thornton 1937 - 1946. It was announced at the January 1947 AGM that he had died
• Edward A. Harris 1947 - ?

There was an annual tradition of the directors hosting staff social events at different branches in the new year. Amongst numerous examples, in January 1925 staff in Bristol enjoyed a whist drive and musical performances. A subsidised savings scheme was announced in 1929. A "Staff Assistance Reserve" fund was established in the 1930s depression and, announced at the 1947 AGM, it was extended to provide pensions.

Tesco takeover

Tesco's bid for Cadena Cafés Limited was announced in the press on 14 January 1965. and by 9 February 1965 it was well underway. In March, The Times reported that "offers to acquire the preference and ordinary shares of Cadena Cafés not already owned by Tesco have been received in respect of over 90 per cent of each class". It was intended to introduce Cadena cafés into Tesco supermarkets and to start selling Cadena pastries and cakes. Sarah Ryle estimates that there were forty-nine Cadena cafés and bakeries at the time of the takeover. By 1967, Tesco had plans to expand Cadena's bakery operation but this did not materialise and the former Cadena Cafés Limited subsidiary company was eventually renamed as Tesco International Internet Retailing Limited in 2011.

In 2007, the BBC reported the death of former Cadena director and shareholder John George White who had retired from Cadena in 1961 and made his fortune from the Tesco shares he received when the company was later sold.

Legacy

The Tunbridge Wells premises are now called Cadena House. Cadena cafés are frequently mentioned in passing on nostalgia websites. Slightly longer articles recall the cafés in more detail, for example Southampton, Tunbridge Wells, Oxford, and Reading. The Southampton article recalls the menu, their wartime experience, and murals of local shipping scenes including the RMS Queen Elizabeth sailing from the Ocean Terminal. It is interesting that the murals are mentioned, given the prestigious murals at the Cabot in Bristol. The Tunbridge Wells article recalls the protocol, the menu and the skills of the waitresses, and points out that the last manager's grandchildren are still in the trade. As with Southampton, the artwork is mentioned, this time having the decor designed by Roger Fry. The Oxford article describes the business and calls for readers to contribute their own stories about the Cadena. The Reading article is actually a letter from a reader about the cinema building the Cadena occupied but it digresses to mention that the "freshly roasted coffee beans’ aroma wafted across Broad Street" and explain the sloping floor. The Berkeley in Queens Road, Bristol is now a J D Wetherspoons Pub. Deller's Café in Taunton eventually became a nightclub and was called Dellers Wharf until 2009.

See also

Commons Category:Deller's café building, Taunton, Somerset

References

1. ^ "1934 Prospectus". Western Daily Press. 15 January 1934 – via British Newspaper Archive.
2. Companies House gives the incorporation dates as 21 June 1894 – 5 October 2011. (See Company number 00041420)
3. It was prominently reported in the Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette (7 November 1907) that Philip James Lloyd, tea merchant and dealer, former managing director of Lloyds Cadena Cafés Ltd for about 12 years, had gone bankrupt.
4. "Dellers Supply Stores Limited. The Companies Act, 1929" (PDF). The London Gazette. 7 March 1933. p. 1559.
5. "Devon Record Office, Reference 5200C-4/91/21a-b". Retrieved 14 January 2019.
6. ^ "£1M. Tesco Stores Purchase [of Adsega Ltd". The Times. 9 February 1965. p. 17 – via Times Digital Archive. This take over comes less than a month after the £3m acquisition of Cadena Cafés.
7. Hensmans, Manuel; Johnson, Gerry; Yip, George (2013). Strategic Transformation: Changing While Winning. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 68.
8. ^ "Various articles". Western Daily Press – via British Newspaper Archive. 1927-1950
9. "An acquisition to the Pantiles". Kent & Sussex Courier. 21 March 1902 – via British Newspaper Archive.
10. "advert for Lloyds Oriental Café, 40 White Rock, Hastings". Hastings and St Leonards Observer. 25 October 1902.
11. Thomas, Graham (3 April 2010). "Cadena Cafe, Oxford". Retrieved 3 January 2021.
12. ^ "Cadena Cafés, Ltd". Cheltenham Looker-On. 18 January 1919. p. 10 – via British Newspaper Archive.
13. "Sayings and Doings of Cheltenham". Cheltenham Looker-On. 25 January 1919. p. 11 – via British Newspaper Archive.
14. ^ "Cadena Cafés Limited". Western Daily Press. 2 May 1924. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive.
15. "The Berkeley, Bristol". This Wetherspoon pub is a former shopping arcade, which included Berkeley Tea Rooms. The name 'Berkeley' has long been associated with Bristol, particularly nearby Berkeley Square built in the late 18th century.
16. "Cadena company buys famous Dellers". Western Daily Press. 11 February 1933. One of the biggest business deals that have occurred in Bristol for many years ... News of the 'big deal' reached the Bristol Stock Exchange yesterday, with the result that the prices of £1 ordinary shares moved up by 6d, being quoted at 52s 6d to 53s 6d, and they will probably go much higher.
17. "1932 Prospectus". Western Daily Press. 4 May 1932. p. 11.
18. "Registration of a charge". Retrieved 31 October 2017.
19. "THE NEW CADENA CAFE, WINE STREET. Dignified Rooms and Efficient Service". Western Daily Press. 2 January 1934 – via British Newspaper Archive.
20. Jenkins, Matthew; BYRNE, EUGENE (1 April 2017). "Bristol coffee culture: Brewing gossip, politics and debate for 350 years". Bristol Post. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
21. "Lloyds Oriental Café advert, centre of Wine Street". Western Daily Press. 14 December 1895 – via British Newspaper Archive.
22. "Advert: New west end branch of Lloyds Oriental Café". Western Daily Press. 4 November 1904 – via British Newspaper Archive.
23. "Now Open The Cabot Café". Western Daily Press. 16 January 1905. p. 10 – via British Newspaper Archive. It is not too much to say that the general fitting up of the rooms will come as a revelation and delight
24. "Improvements in College Green". Western Daily Press. 17 October 1903 – via British Newspaper Archive. An important block of business premises is about to be erected in College Green ... The upper floors will be occupied by Lloyds Oriental Café Ltd and known as the "Cadena Tea Rooms"
25. ^ "South Bristol Methodist Church: the mural". Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
26. Booth, Martin (9 April 2015). "Catch 22". Bristol24-7.
27. ^ "Charges". Companies House. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
28. "Kelly's Directory of Hampshire & Isle of Wight, 1911". p. 102. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
29. "STAFF ENTERTAINMENT. To mark, the acquisition of Botherway's Café, Gloucester". Gloucester Journal. 28 January 1928 – via British Newspaper Archive.
30. Hassall, T.G. (1971). "Excavations at 44-46 Cornmarket Street, Oxford, 1970" (PDF). Oxoniensia: 15–36.
31. "Tudor Café advert". Kent & Sussex Courier. 14 July 1905.
32. "Business enterprise in Tunbridge Wells: Reconstruction of a well-known café". Kent & Sussex Courier. 18 July 1924 – via British Newspaper Archive. Lengthy effusive description
33. ^ "A new café". Hastings and St Leonards Observer. 29 March 1902 – via British Newspaper Archive. It is replete with every comfort, and most luxuriously furnished, the design being oriental in character. The proprietors are Lloyds Oriental Café Ltd whose establishment at Hastings is well known.
34. ^ "Scores on the Doors: Shragers Patisserie". Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
35. "LLoyd George Survey of Land Values". Retrieved 17 December 2014.
36. "Library exhibition remembers Cheltenham's past in pictures". Gloucestershire Echo. 3 September 2011. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
37. "Salisbury, Blue Boar Row c.1950". Retrieved 24 September 2018.
38. "Alterations to Café , 40 Blue Boar Row, Cadena Café Ltd". Retrieved 14 January 2019.
39. ^ Embery, D L (27 November 2008). "Coffee beans replace cinema". Retrieved 16 December 2014.
40. Noyes, Doug (November 1998). "The Changing Face of Reading". Wargrave Local History Society. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
41. Osborn, Bob. "The A-to-Z of Yeovil's History: Maynard & Son, Pastrycooks & Confectioners of the Borough".
42. Historic England. "59 and 60, High Street, Worcester (1389897)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
43. "Dellers Supply Stores Limited" (PDF). The London Gazette. 7 March 1933. p. 1559.
44. "Deller's Café, Bedford Street". 31 July 2011. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
45. "Paignton Dellers Café". Retrieved 17 November 2017.
46. "Paignton Dellers Summer Café". Retrieved 17 November 2017.
47. "Taunton Dellers". Retrieved 16 December 2014.
48. "Ritz Cinema Bristol Hill, Brislington, Bristol, BS4". Retrieved 15 December 2014.
49. "Notice of change of name by resolution". Companies House. 5 October 2011. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
50. "Incorporation". Companies House. 1 January 1990. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
51. "Certificate of Change of Name". Companies House. 12 October 1905. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
52. "Certificate of Change of Name". Companies House. 6 January 1908. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
53. "The New Cadena". Gloucester Citizen. 1 December 1931 – via British Newspaper Archive.
54. "A new departure: Musical afternoon teas". Hastings and St Leonards Observer. 5 September 1903 – via British Newspaper Archive.
55. Yates, Phil (27 December 2002). "The way we were". Southern Daily Echo. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
56. "Helen Tait". Gloucester Citizen. 29 December 1944. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive.
57. ^ "Second Court". Western Daily Press. 24 December 1914. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive.
58. HM Revenue and Customs. "World War II and PAYE". Archived from the original on 5 June 2013.
59. Essex, Stephen; Brayshay, Mark (2007). "Vision, vested interest and pragmatism: who re‐made Britain's blitzed cities?". Planning Perspectives. 22 (4): 417–441. doi:10.1080/02665430701553415. ISSN 0266-5433.
60. "Cadena Cafés: another profitable year". Gloucester Citizen. 7 December 1929 – via British Newspaper Archive. With a view to encouraging thrift among the younger members of the staff, it is intended form a branch of the National Savings Association. The Company under such a scheme would undertake to increase the individual savings by adding a certain proportion of National Savings Certificates to those purchased by members of the staff
61. "Tesco bid £3.2m for Cadena". The Guardian. 14 January 1965. p. 13.
62. "£3m. Tesco Bid for Restaurants". The Times. 14 January 1965. p. 15.
63. "Cadena Cafés". The Times. 17 March 1965. p. 19.
64. "Coffee for Tesco Customers". The Times. 15 January 1965. p. 20.
65. Ryle, Sarah (2013). The Making of Tesco: A Story of British Shopping. Random House. p. 328. (Gives takeover as 1964)
66. "Bakery Challenge". The Times. 15 June 1967. p. 22. Tesco intends to mount a challenge to the big bakery operations by developing its own production. A spokesman said yesterday that the bakery division of Cadena Cafés, a Tesco subsidiary, had been reorganized and a large five-year expansion programme begun.
67. "Tesco International Internet Retailing Limited". Companies House.
68. The BBC incorrectly assumed that the takeover took place in 1961 but that was the year White retired, not the year the company was sold. The correct year, given the announcements in The Times, is 1965.
69. "Man leaves millions to charities". BBC News. 21 December 2007.
70. "Millionaire's 'surprise' legacy". BBC News. 21 December 2007.
71. Hamilton, Keith (12 November 2014). "Café was the toast of the town".
72. "Strict rules and delicious treats at British café". 5 August 2011. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
73. "'Oxford will never be the same' the last days of the glorious Cadena café". 22 July 2013.
74. Brinsford, James (6 August 2017). "13 Lost nightclubs of Yeovil, Taunton, Glastonbury and Street in Somerset". Somerset Live. Retrieved 15 November 2017.

External links

• Deller's Café Exeter - website about the history of the Bedford Street branch of Deller's. The company was taken over by Cadena in 1933.

• Defunct food manufacturers of the United Kingdom
• Defunct restaurants in the United Kingdom
• Defunct restaurant chains
• Defunct companies based in Bristol
• Coffeehouses and cafés in the United Kingdom
• 1895 establishments in England
• Restaurants established in 1895