THIS lovely little cup popped up at a pop-up exhibition in Bishop Auckland Town Hall recently, and we are grateful to John Phelan and John Redman for sending it in.
It is from Rossi’s café of Newgate Street and, somewhat surprisingly, Southport.
Rossi's in the 1920s, which was opposite the Eden Theatre in Bishop Auckland
The café was founded by Italian immigrant Gennaro in the 1920s, in the former Waterloo pub on Newgate Street. It was opposite the Eden Theatre, and was frequented by many of the stars: Julie Andrews once called in; a pair of elephants, escaped from a circus, once tried to get in.
The café, which was dominated by its large and noisy Gaggia coffee machine, was demolished along with the theatre in the 1980s for road widening. Edmundo Rossi, son of the founder, moved his business to Market Place, where he continued until 1998.
Anything else we should know about Rossi’s, and what was the Southport connection?
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