The Espresso Bars: El Toreador and The Sargasso (1957)
In a city with an estimated quantity of sandstone caves numbering somewhere between five and six hundred, it'll probably remain a mystery as to why the espresso bars – featured in this advert from a late fifties Theatre Royal programme – decided they needed to build a fibreglass and plaster replica of one as a stage set for their customers. I can only assume their building, standing somewhere among what are now the backsides of The Cornerhouse and Trinity Square, simply wanted the vibe, but didn't have a natural cave to hand.
Of course, the combination of espresso and evening guitar music sessions suggest El Toreador and The Sargasso were striving to be Nottingham's answer to the Italian cafés that had nurtured the early years of teenage rebellion in Soho. Where Cliff Richard and Ricky Wilde wannabes could be witnessed posing with bongos, and prototype mods could compare notes on scooters and Italian tailoring. The fake cave interior no doubt added a certain Greenwich Village eccentricity and atmosphere that distinguished the place from the old bloke pubs everyone else went to back then.
These days, there are still plenty of genuine caves. The nearest thing to a fake cavern in the city is arguably the brutalist concrete bunker of Nottingham Contemporary's downstairs performance space, which there are plans to link – via some underground additions, to the existing city-centre network of caves and tunnels – with the grounds of Nottingham Castle. Sadly, it seems highly unlikely that the Council's admirable plan includes Scandinavian Modernist coffee-tables and stools, festoons of fishing net hung from the ceilings, or keeping the passageways open quite so late at weekends. But one can always hope.
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