HOW nice it was to read Bernadette Downs’s letter (Oxford Mail, July 10), recalling happy memories of the Excelsior Café in the Cowley Road.


 I had my first meal there back in the early 1960s.


 All the food they cooked and served was nutritious and homely and  the delicious coffee and Horlicks were frothy and served in large mugs.


 One of my favourite meals they served was liver, chips and marrowfat peas and loads of gravy.


 I once asked owner Andy why his chips were so delicious and he told me that he used freshly prepared chips and not the frozen variety.


 Omelettes were another favourite. I very rarely had a pudding because after the huge main courses they served, there just wasn’t room for them.


 I remember coming back to Oxford from a two-week holiday in Rome in the early ’80s and we were all feeling hungry, so I suggested we go to the Excelsior and afterwards everybody agreed that it was so nice to get back to eating good, plain, English food.


 I believe that the Excelsior Café is only one of two of the old businesses which still exist on the Cowley Road and it will be a very sad day that they are no longer serving a loyal clientele who have kept them going for so many years.


KEITH GODFREY,
St Nicholas Park,
Old Marston