Popular city cafe set for a final fry-up

Feb 10 2007 By Poppy Brady, Birmingham Mail

THE finest fry-ups in town will be nothing more than a mouthwatering memory as the "unsinkable" Titanic cafe finally slips under the waves.

Also known as the Knife and Fork cafe, the famous eaterie in Bristol Road, Selly Oak, has been serving generations of diners for nearly three decades.

But the tide of redevelopment on the Battery Park site has proved too strong for an establishment that boasted the best tea in Britain, so it was serving up its final bacon sarnie today.

Bill Cridland, aged 64, and wife Janet have run the landmark cafe and been substitute parents to thousands of hungry students who made a beeline for their legendary breakfasts.

"We’ve served countless students and so many have come back to see us and kept in touch," said Bill, from Yardley. "Our building was originally owned by British Waterways but now Sainsbury’s has taken over the site as part of the big Battery Park development.

"In many ways we’ll be sad to close but trade has become less busy as neighbouring businesses closed to make way for the new development.

"We were nicknamed the Titanic by one of our customers and the name stuck."

Bill and Janet’s time is also taken up with their only son Russell, aged 42, who needs kidney dialysis three times a week at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital satellite site at Aston Cross.

He underwent a kidney transplant in 1989 but sadly the kidney failed two years ago after Russell was struck down with double pneumonia. Now he is waiting for a second transplant.

Bill added: "We’re just looking forward to putting our feet up a bit more, helping Russell and looking into our family history."