Oak Street Cafés and Refreshment Rooms

Oak Street Cafés and Refreshment Rooms.
In the latter part of the 19th century quite a few coffee houses and refreshment rooms were being established in Abertillery. The area of Oak Street (as seen to the left on the featured image above) close to the railway station was ideal for these establishments.

Mr Jordan’s Coffee Tavern.
In the 1880s Mr William Jordan, manager of the Abertillery Tin Works had a coffee house at 24 Oak Street, though in December 1890 he had moved to 21 Oak Street, Abertillery, a premises which was next to and part of the temperance building belonging to Mrs Elizabeth Evans. These buildings were also known as The Great Western Dining Rooms and I have also seen reference to them as being the Railway Coffee Tavern.

Mrs Elizabeth Evans was a very influential woman, she was a landowner and landlady of the Royal Oak Inn, Abertillery and also the sister of Mrs Mary Ann Buckley, the wife of Thomas John Buckley. Elizabeth Evans sadly passed away in January 1903, at the time of her death she was living at The Grove, Gladstone Street.

Mr William Rosser.
At about the same time there was another coffee house, refreshment rooms at 13 Oak Street owned by Mr William Rosser. Mr Rosser owned the block of terraced houses in that area of Oak Street, he purchased them in 1874. He was also a leading figure on the Abertillery Chamber of Trade.

Buckley’s Temperance Hotel.
In 1892 Mr Thomas John Buckley took over the Temperance Hotel, Oak Street, Abertillery and opened a refreshment rooms. More information on Mr Buckley on another page.

Mr John Jones Refreshment Rooms.
In June 1895 the Jordan’s Coffee Tavern managed by Mr William Jordan was put up for sale yet it was withdrawn at £475 due to lack of interest. I cannot find any reference to Jordan’s Coffee Tavern after this date, though in 1914 Mr John Jones was the proprietor of refreshment rooms at 21 Oak Street, Abertillery.

Mrs A. Watkins.
In 1900 Mrs A. Watkins was the proprietress of the Great Western Dining Rooms.

In 1913 Mrs Watkins of the Great Western Dining Rooms advertised she was moving her dining rooms to Somerset Street, Abertillery.

The Station Cafe.
In 1920 the Station Cafe was established and opened in the old premises of Messrs Ash Saddlers at 5 Oak Street. The proprietors were Mr & Mrs William Llewellyn Newell. They both previously had a cafe at the top of Church Street, although it was practically destroyed by water damage at the time of the fire at the Roath Furnishing Company Shop on June 6th, 1919.

When Messrs Ash vacated their premises in Oak Street to move to High Street in 1920, Mr and Mrs Newell moved to Oak Street and set up the Station Cafe.

In 1920 the Abertillery Harriers met at the Station Cafe with the intention of reforming the Harriers Running Club.

Mr Newell passed away in 1924 and the following year Mrs Newell along with her sons and daughters moved to Woolongong, Australia to be with her brother Mr William Davies MP. Mr Davies was in Australia as a representative of Woolongong for the Commonwealth.

(More information to come).