Ride Cafe Bar

One of the more recent conversions to a licensed premise in the area is the Ride Café Bar at No.45 Tavistock Place. It sits right alongside the erstwhile St Luke’s Chapel. Currently an annex of the Central Library St Luke’s was consecrated in 1830. Erected in what had been part of Gibbon’s Field, it wasn’t long before this previously rural part on the outskirts of town, had become quite fully developed. At first No.45 was a private residence, then in the late nineteenth century it enjoyed a brief spell as a Girl’s Day and Boarding School before reverting back to a private dwelling. Just before the outbreak of the Second World War it had become the vicarage of St Luke’s – the Reverend James Robertson being there in 1939 and JF Davies after him.

After the war St Luke’s was made a joint parish with Charles (after the bombing of Charles Church), but that arrangement ended in 1961 and the building has been used by the Library Services since 1966. No.45, meanwhile, was licensed last year – 2005.