I'm late..but that's not unusual! Had to get my head down in the office today!Yes Mattiae's Bakery... the bread, cream cakes,pies,, provisions, and wedding cake place just before the Richmond Roundabout..on the left...in Kew Road. Remember it well. I used to visit the Mathiaes for snacks..as I was passing by..but it did have an air of under-activity. Or was it not enough cream cakes in the front window display?!It closed all of a sudden some times back..probably the parking restrictions outside!! and the unusual thing it that the shop was seemingly just abandoned for years and years..with packets of product still on display. Did not the residents complain about mice etc?Your enquiry about this Art Deco cafe is timely..as it seems it was finally sold..and plans for a redevelopement into flats have been leapfrogged by some kind of preservation order on the building 76-84 Kew Road.Much more exicting was Colin's Wine Bar across the road..on the corner with Shaftsbury Road..where a Mr Colin Spootiswood from Richmond ran a top spot...in the 1970's and later ..well before Pissarro's on Kew Green arrived!Decorated in chococate colours, with memorable paintings on display, tasteful lighting..Colin;s was ahead of its time. Ladies had somewhere to go in the evenings..other that the smokey local pub. It was the German White Wine era..Neirsteiner, and other Moselles. Anyway, back to Mathaies. Here is the recent extract from the Richmond Times.oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo""Art Deco café spared from development""By Colleen McDonnellA once-bustling bakery and caf in Kew Road with classic deep blue and silver Art Deco shopfronts and matching interiors has been Grade II listed to protect its unique 1920s architecture.In response to pressure from the council and locals who treasure the premises, which is still referred to as Matthiae's Caf and Bakery, last week the Government's Department of Culture, Media and Sport officially listed 76-84 Kew Road.The family business closed in 2001 after 80 years of serving the community. For decades the people of Richmond went to Matthiae's to buy their bread and wedding cakes and referred to the caf's catering service to put on every big event, like weddings and civic dinners.continued...Julia Dunlop, nee Matthiae, is the daughter of Reg Matthiae who started the bakery in 1920 and expanded the business to include a caf, restaurant and catering service.When her brother, Richard Matthiae, sold the property to new owners in December last year, Mrs Dunlop, who still lives in Richmond, worried her parents' bakery would be redeveloped without preserving the architecture.She was pleased to hear of the Grade II listing, and said: "It should protect the building's attractive features, like the glass ceiling in the shop, which was such a worry during the war because any serious vibration could have brought it down on top of staff and customers, and the wonderful terrazzo staircase, which is so solid that the family slept in a small room under the staircase during the war in place of an air raid shelter."Mrs Dunlop's parents met when her mother came to work in the bakery. After getting married, the business-minded couple remodelled the facade and interior with the classic Art Deco style of the 1930s.The business premises included the main bakery and catering department on the ground floor, a caf and a banquet room on the first floor and an Art Deco ballroom on the top floor. The family lived in flats above the bakery.Using decor, the Matthiaes heightened the Art Deco feel.Mrs Dunlop said: "I remember the caf and ballroom with their mirrors and wooden panels round the walls, the ladies' and gents' toilets with black and white tiles and wonderful basins that drained into a tiled open trough, the ground floor canopied entrance to the ballroom and the shop entrance."Council planning officers said an application to convert the five 19th century terraced houses into nine flats was submitted just two weeks ago.A council spokesman said the news of the Grade II listing made the application obsolete as the Essex based owners, Fine Haze Limited, will now have to submit a fresh application with a separate one because of the structure's listed status.No one at Fine Haze was available for comment at the time of going to press.10:38am Friday 2nd June 2006""ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooAfter Colin's wine bar...came Jackson's Wine bar in Sandycombe Road. Anyone remember these two splendid places?They probably suffered from the end of long lunches!
Jim Lawes ● 7444d