Dunbar Cafe Culture in the 1950s and 60s

This month, we move on to cafes in Dunbar in the 1950s and 1960s. Click on all photos to see an enlarged version.

The first cafe to be highlighted is the Doric which was situated in the High Street where the present Pound Shop is. John Janetta ran the cafe and in the 1960s, it was a haunt for teenagers to meet up. This cafe was probably best known for its jukebox and John Janetta always had the latest pop chart songs. So it was a very social place but many people from the 1960s will remember it as a place where romances blossomed and faded. To the right of the cafe was the ironmonger Universal Supplies which was run initially by the McLuckie family and later by the Jamiesons.

This photo is taken outside the Lido Cafe which was located in the High Street where the Chinese restaurant – the one down from Umberto’s) now stands. The photo is dated 1938 and shows Guy Togneri on the left, John Togneri on the right. The woman in the middle is as yet unidentified. The billiard hall was attached to the Lido Cafe and was a very popular venue for young men until the 1970s. It was where many boys met after school – and sometimes during school hours. The cafe is remembered for its ice cream and hot orange amongst younger people and its meals and snacks amongst older visitors. It was always packed during the summer with visitors.

The 3rd cafe is Carruthers’, which was a restaurant, cafe and sweet shop combined. It was situated on the High Street where Fade Lasers now stands (2 doors down from Dunbar News). It belonged to the parents of DDHS member Charlie Carruthers, whose family took over the shop from the Misses Main in 1954 and expanded the range of meals offered. This was another cafe which had visitors queuing down the High Street all summer and was the lunch venue for young women taking part in the swimming pool beauty contests in the 1950s and 1960s.