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Last of the cafe pioneers
The traditional cafe in Leeds is now an endangered species. But its demise is about more than nostalgia, it threatens a way of life for one of the city's most enterprising immigrant communities. Rod McPhee reports.
GEORGE Nicholaides has a distinct glow of pride about him.
As he approaches his 60th birthday he's owner of the Olympic, one of just a handful of old school cafeterias left in Leeds.
At one time in the city there were estimated to be between 50 and 100 places to stop off for a coffee, a cigarette and a sandwich – many of them run by Greek Cypriots.
These days traditional cafes can be counted in single figures, and the number of families in the city originating from Cyprus has plunged from around 500 families in the 1960s to about 100 now.
George was part of the first wave who emigrated to Britain in the 1950s and one of the last survivors still making a decent living through a family-run business. He has reason to be proud.
Plus he has two sons, Kyriakos – who is known as Gags – and Andy, and a son-in-law Vas Petrou, who all share the burden of working in a business where the profit margins are, at best, narrow.
"When you're part of a family, it's easier," he said. "You stick together and support each other because you all want the business to succeed and I think that's why we're still around today.
"My boys were virtually born and brought up in the cafe and they know it backwards. When I retire I'll pass it on to them.
"We don't do bad, we don't do great. We get by. But there was once a time when cafes made good money.
"We all knew each other. Some were just friends, others relatives – some of us even came from the same village in Cyprus. It's unfortunate enough that the cafes are disappearing but even more unfortunate is the culture it takes with them."
Unlike many of his contemporaries, George was shrewd enough to buy the building which houses his cafe. If he had to pay the rents being charged to tenants in the heart of Leeds he insists he'd be out of business too.
A neighbouring retailer, he says, was forced out of their unit because the landlord demanded 41,000 in annual rent – not much less than the 51,000 he paid for his spot on New Market Street back when he opened in 1977.
Two years earlier he'd opened sister cafe Monte Carlo. Other well-known city centre cafes were the Minerva, Olympia, Skandia, Carousel and El Torro.
But in the 1980s their dominance waned. Ever-increasing rents forced many out of business, leaving just a few on the backstreets struggling to make ends meet. But even they have felt an unbearable squeeze in recent times.
Jason Kavazy last week pulled down the shutters on his Four Cousins cafe, just round the corner from the Olympic in the dilapidated Market Street Arcade.
Now 43, he inherited the business from his father Paul who launched it in 1961 with his brother and their two cousins, hence the name.
Mr Kavazy senior was legendary among the Greek Cypriot community and set up dozens of cafes around Leeds which invariably packed the punters in.
Jason said: "The cafe did a roaring trade in the mornings because everyone used to start work first thing and virtually everyone used to stop off for breakfast or at least a coffee and a cigarette before starting the day.
"The trouble came when working hours started to alter, you'd get people starting at say 10am or 11am and they'd grab a bite to eat and a drink at home before they left.
"Late night trade has changed too. At night you used to get a lot of women coming in because years ago women didn't really go into pubs alone. And where you got girls you'd get guys coming along as well.
"I was only about six or seven but I remember there was a Wurlitzer in the corner blasting out music and the place would be packed with people, a real buzz."
But why did so many Greek Cypriots run the cafes?
"Like any group of immigrants, when you arrive somewhere at first you take on what is considered to be the more menial work," said Jason.
"Years ago working in kitchens and waiting on tables was seen by a lot of people as the kind of work which was beneath them.
"But a few businessmen realised the potential and worked together to build their businesses up."
All the Greek Cypriot cafe owners agree that trade took a massive turn for the worse in the 1980s when fast food giants cornered the market.
Jason said: "Just 30 years ago there weren't any places like McDonald's or Burger King in the city centre.
"Then when they came along we switched just from doing sandwiches to hot meals, but then the pubs started doing more and more hot food and we lost out to them too.
"I don't resent that and however sad it is I realise that times change. But one thing I do resent is the fact that it is so hard for independent cafes to launch these days because banks are so risk averse.
"In my father's day you could go to the bank and have just 10 per cent to put down to start a business and they might lend you the rest. Now they'd expect more like 30 or 40 per cent – but what business person starting out can get hold of that kind of money?"
Fortunately money isn't too much of a problem for Tony and George Demetriou who run the Acropolis coffee lounge and grill on Merrion Street.
The cafe is a small part of their Yorkshire business empire which includes the Cedar Court Hotel chain.
"We couldn't rely on this place to make our bread and butter," laughs George, 57, who came to the UK in 1974. "We just about make the books balance but it's about more than making money. My brother's 70 and a millionaire but he still loves being behind the counter making coffees, chatting to people and so do I.
"Some of our customers have been coming in since we opened and we know each other by name. Some of our staff have been with us for 10, 20 or 30 years. But it is getting more difficult to keep going.
"Competition in general is much more fierce, these days you can go get a sandwich virtually anywhere – in the bakery, the supermarket, even the newsagents.
"And yet I think the thing which has done us the biggest damage was the smoking ban because we used to have lots of people come in for a coffee and a fag.
"It is really sad, but sad for the Greek Cypriot community in particular because for us cafes aren't just about running businesses, they're almost a complete way of life.
"I really do see a time when there will be no traditional cafes left in Leeds and that can only be a bad thing."
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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