BUT NOW IT'S AN ARCADE

FORGOTTEN CAFÉ


Here Nosegays got dragged on by dishevelled spivs
While intrigued historians observed how one lived
And bank jobs got planned over fowl cups of tea
And the loveys came in from the theatre at three

But now it’s an arcade.

Overweight ruddy faced ladies guffawed
And drunks spewed expletives as coffee pots roared
And tobacco smoke billowed to form a dense cloud
So that even eccentrics got lost in the crowd.

But now it’s an arcade.

Mods aired contempt here for old die hard Teds
With a quid’s worth of blues they’d be bombed off their heads
Sipping on cokes telling bum pinching jokes
Their Vespas a gleaming from mirror to spokes.

But now it’s an arcade.

Old girls with beehives would moan at the prices
‘Is that all the change from ten Bob for two slices?’
Occasional vagrants came in trying it on
‘ Giv us a tanner son and I’ll be gone!’

But now it’s an arcade.

Everyone listened to heavyweight fights
On a crackly wireless on Saturday nights
They’d congregate with an at tentative ear
And in wonderful unison hollowed and cheered.

But now it’s an arcade.

This was a place to come in for a warm
And where lasting and meaningful items were formed
This was a haunt where we came to be sane
In that pleasantries could be explained and exchanged!
But now its an arcade.


TIM SANSOM 20TH MARCH 2008