The Caprice

A Memory of Morden.

The Caprice was a rather cool place to hang out back in the 60's. I have no idea what at first attracted myself and my 'best friend' Jean Jones to hang out there. I think her older sister Shirley may have told us about it. We were somewhat fascinated by the 'rockers', and their motorbikes. These were usually parked across the road, next to 'Jack's Cafe', the public toilets and a police box. We gradually learned the names of not only the bikers: Billy Wells Dizzy, Ozzy, Trout (don't think he had a bike, but he was one of the crowd), Ginger, (who later wrote for The Motorcycle News) Bomber, Vic (who died in an accident on his bike), Martin, Septimus, Ricky Harper, Peter Fiddy Tony, Bim ( a very careful and slow biker), and many others. Dick, (The Caveman) also a visited the cafe regularly..He was a great deal older than most of the guys that hung out there.. Later he and I married.
Along with getting to know everyone, we came to know the names of all the motorbikes - they were the main topic of conversation among the men after all - and we also learnt who rode which bike. Certain bikes held more clout than others. Many of the bikers were great mechanics; most who rode, worked on their bikes making adaptations to increase speed as well as how a bike looked

Along with learning the names of the men we came to know the names of the girls who hung out there too: Christine Broughton ( who was always changing her hair colour and loved horses), Rose, Mavis and many others.
The Caprice was novel: bamboo lined the walls, there was a small tiny bistro type restaurant separate from the coffee bar, which served what was then exotic pasta and such. We were tucked next with the jukebox, the high stools and frothy coffee. Venturing out, other than work, was to the Odeon next door, usually on a Sunday, or on the bikes to the Mickleham bypass and Box Hill. Sometimes a couple of guys would leave to race from 'the lights to the bridge!'.
Jean and I were mainly happy to have found a great place to hang out, and very interesting men with a certain of glamour and danger about them....... Maggie Buckingham, nee Carney