Cafe racers all know about The Ace Cafe, but an equally popular 1950s hangout was just down the road at the Watford Bypass called The Busy Bee Cafe. And unrelated to anyone but Her Majesty's Thunder, it's about 3 miles from Elstree Studios, where the original Star Wars movies were filmed.
On the website you can read neat first-hand accounts by biker patrons of The Busy Bee as well as a thorough history of the place as told by Peter Mayne, who was employed at the cafe for 32 years. Here's a snippet:
"The order of the day was meet at the Bee, coffee, and when there was enough of you, a quick blast down to the Ace, more coffee, and back to the Bee, game over! Week ends and Bank holidays, meet at the Bee, wait until there was about 50 bikes then down to Southend in one big crowd. Or of course, it could be Margate or even Brighton or anywhere those pesky little Mods and their scooters could be 'mashed'."
Lots of great historical photos on the site as well. There's even a Busy Bee Motorcycle Club.
You can see the illuminated Bee in the background of these photos.
