You recently reported on the closure of the Cafe Noir in Osler Road – a sad loss to the amenities of Headington.
Established and long managed, by Majid Yazdani, his wife and her mother, the café was a place of real cosmopolitan distinction. It had enticing dishes on offer, complemented by the excellent quality of cooking, always a visual delight as served; and coffees, beer and wine were always available for more casual occasions.
The cafe entertained a wide public – celebratory parties and smaller groups – often from Headington’s hospitals, local OAPs indulging themselves, arty folk, business folk, students, local councillors, taxi-drivers dropping by – recognising the excellence of the coffee – taking their ease and chatting in a host of Slavic languages, friends and couples of all ages, plus foreign visitors lodging in Headington.
All in all, a wonderful lively mix, brewing a warmth of atmosphere not found in the franchises.
The cafe’s staff also, ever spruce, cheerful, engaging, attentive, added to a customer’s delight.
Now in my early 80s and assailed by rapidly diminishing mobility, the Cafe Noir has proved a godsend to me. Situated at the virtual limit of my leg-exercising totter-distance, I was an almost daily customer over the past four years.
Generally, I chose to sit outside under the café’s narrow awning, in almost all weathers, to enjoy a glass of wine, a coffee and a cigar, watching the world go by. I owe Majid and his family and others at the cafe, a great debt of gratitude for an immensity of pleasure.
Perhaps I speak for others: ‘Thank you Cafe Noir. you will be keenly missed.’
John Barrow, Horwood Close, Headington
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