The new cafe under construction c1960:
The new cafe was designed by Jack Rudge, and built by local tradesmen in 1959/60. The building included a large cafe area; a counter serving area; large kitchen; a raised area adjacent to the juke box; a shop selling soft drinks, ice creams and cigarettes (usually only opened at busy periods at the weekends); and toilets. There was even a gift shop for holiday makers to pick up a souvenir of their holiday. It sold Necton branded china just like those sold at Yarmouth – they are probably quite rare now, but we’ve never seen any on the Antiques Roadshow!
Child labour learning brick laying skills!
A two storey block also provided accommodation on the first floor for the family (comprising a lounge, dining area, kitchen, hall, three bedrooms, toilet and a bathroom). External stairs provided access to the accommodation, together with internal stairs from the cafe.
On the ground floor below this accommodation, part of the area was used to create a self-contained flat for ‘Mrs P’ (a senior staff member) with its own external access. We believe that it was planned to use the larger part of this floor to build small self-contained bedrooms for use by lorry drivers requiring an overnight stay – however, this part of the project was never implemented. Instead, this remaining area was used to provide a dining area for coach drivers at weekends.
The water tower was built to provide the necessary water pressure for the cafe and flat. The design of the tower is believed to have been inspired by a fuel station and cafe at the southern end on the A1M Doncaster bypass. Admittedly, this version lacks some of the ‘finesse’ of the original!
Love them or hate them, some other features that were unusual at the time were:
- The cafe floor was tiled with a random pattern of hard wearing coloured ‘Marley’ tiles which was very effective.
- The cafe area was quite large, and together with its high ceiling provided a very spacious feel, even when the cafe was very busy. In those days, smoking was normal in cafe premises, but the high ceiling helped to mitigate the unpleasant side of this practice for the non-smokers.
- The inside walls were all painted in pastel shades of blue, green and cream. In contrast, the central heating radiators and their surrounds were painted in bright colours – another unusual feature which gave a ‘modern 1960s’ feel to the premises.
- The high windows, in addition to providing good lighting inside, also enhanced the architectural interest, all helping to make the building something of an icon.
- In the corner of the raised area, a bright red telephone box was built, incorporating a coin operated telephone – very useful in the days before mobile phones!
- We understand that the large doors inside the entrance came from the old Pilot cinema in Swaffham.
- On one side of the raised area, a stained glass window separated the public area from the adjacent private room. We do not know where that window came from.
- Unusual for those days, the cafe provided plenty of rest room space for both male and female customers. It would only be on very busy days, that people would have to queue for the toilet.
It is surprising how often, when meeting strangers who had never heard of Necton, and when talking about where we grew up, they’d say: “Oh. I know where you mean. It’s where that cafe is, isn’t it?”
At the same time as the cafe was being built, a new petrol station, a kiosk and forecourt were constructed, incorporating new fuel storage tanks and fuel delivery pumps.
Memories
No entries – watch this space.