The exterior of the cafe on Rosamund Street
Snape's Cafe was an eatery situated on Rosamund Street which was well-frequented by the residents of Coronation Street and the adjoining thoroughfares.
It was owned by Sylvia Snape, a lady who had had her share of fun and excitement in the past and, although she still enjoyed the attention of men, was now happily married to Bernard. His work as a commercial traveller mostly took him away from home which caused no problems to their marriage and admirably suited the characters of the two people concerned.
The cafe served a mixture of teas, coffees, milk shakes, barm cakes and similar staples of such a business. Sylvia was able to man the counter herself most of the time but she did need an assistant for Monday and Wednesday nights and she gladly took on Doreen Lostock when she offered her services, as an addition to her daytime work at Elliston's Raincoat Factory. Sylvia was impressed with the way she managed to handle the difficult customers from imperious ladies to sneering Teddy Boys.
In April 1961 Doreen had to help out at lunchtime when Sylvia went to have her feet done, get short-tempered with Sheila Birtles when she though she would report her to personnel back at the factory.
By July, the Snapes decided to sell up and move to Newcastle upon Tyne, selling the business to Mario Bonarti who opened an Italian cafe with his father Leo.
Harry and Lucille Hewitt are customers in the cafe
- There is some evidence that the writers intended the cafe to be a permanent feature in the programme. In an interview many years later on "Parkinson", Patricia Routledge, who played Sylvia, relayed an anecdote that a member of the design staff was pleased with the cafe set and told her that it would be around a lot longer than her present two-week stint in the programme. He expressed surprise when she said she had no intention of becoming a regular member of the cast as everyone assumed she would be there for a longer term. With no cafe owner to man the counter, it only made four more appearances before being changed to Mario's Continental Cafe later in the year.