A PROPER COFFEE SHOP After nearly a century of trading, Carwardine's, Bristol's oldest coffee roasting and teashop empire, was taken over by a London firm. Now the company that "put the T in Bristol" is back in family hands. Nearly 20 years ago, part of Bristol's 300-year-old tea and coffee history quietly passed into outside hands.Carwardine's, part of the city's cafe life for almost 70 years, discovered that it could no longer stand alone in the aggressive high street coffee-shop culture that was sweeping the country. Serving a leisurely cup of afternoon tea or roasted coffee blends to weary shoppers was no longer enough - market forces dictated that, in order to survive, coffee shops had to be part of a major chain. For what seemed like a knock-down price of ?600,000, Carwardine's seven coffee and tea houses joined Madisons, an expanding coffee enterprise. The new owners, which specialised in shopping centre outlets nationwide, said that customer options were undergoing change. "Carwardine's coffee is very high quality," a spokesman for Madisons said at the time, "but we believe people want more espresso coffee, cappuccinos and lattes. "These can only be created properly from espresso beans - beans which Carwardine's don't use." Up to that time, Carwardine's coffee, roasted at a depot in Cloud's Hill Road, St George, had been personally tested by an experienced chief roaster. "But Carwardine's make great tea," the spokesman added, and we will sell that alongside Madisons brand coffee." With origins dating back to 1777, it was Stephen Carwardine who, in the 1920s, opened the family's very first coffee shop in Corn Street. Despite intense competition from national companies like J. Lyons, it was a great success. Carwardine's, now with many more cafes, rapidly became a Bristol institution known not only for its smart, uniformed waitresses, but also for the pungent fumes spilling out into the streets from its roasting coffee beans. From the mid- Sixties onwards, the company ran the Berkeley cafe at the top of Park Street (it had once belonged to rival Cadena) before selling up in 1981. But now, after many years' absence, the well-known brand name is back. Just a few weeks ago, fourth-generation family member Chris Carwardine (known to his staff as "Mr C") opened a new coffee house in Clifton's Queen's Road, just at the top of Park Street, complementing an existing branch in downtown St Stephen's Street. The 69-year-old entrepreneur - who puts his never-say-die resilience down to two disciplined years in the armed forces - has already bought back former coffee houses in Bath and Worcester, as well as opening a new one in Salisbury, Wiltshire a city which has already welcomed two other Carwardine outlets. And, despite intense competition, business is doing very nicely with 10,000 to 12,000 people passing through the cafes every week. Thornbury-born Edmund, Christopher's great-grandfather, would do doubt have been delighted at the change in fortunes. It was he, after all, who had made the decision in Victorian times to move the family from quiet, rural Gloucestershire to bustling Hotwells and set up as a tea dealer. His son Stephen expanded the business by opening the first of many tea and coffee shops - refreshment rooms which made the family firm a household name, not just in Bristol but throughout much of the South. Stephen, one of pre-war Bristol's movers and shakers, was one of the three founding fathers of the Evening Post, then a serious local rival to Northcliffe's national paper, Evening World. It's said that, pre-World War II, he was earning some ?2,000 a year. Whatever the truth of that, he could certainly afford to travel around in a chauffeur-driven Daimler. Stephen had made his pile after taking over tea and coffee merchants Philip Lloyd, a company to which he had once been apprenticed. Lloyd's had a heritage dating back to 1777 and the Tuckett Brothers - a tea and coffee house based in the Redland area of the city. Stephen steered the company through the difficult years of World War II and, unlike rivals Cadena, his four Bristol restaurants were lucky survivors. Remaining largely unscathed through several blitzes, Forces personnel and emergency workers flocked through the doors. Post-war, the business built up. At its peak, in the Eighties, Carwardine's was doing very well. "In those days we had 39 coffee houses stretched across the country from Truro to Southend-on-Sea - including many in London," Christopher explained over a leisurely cup of cappuccino. "I was a very busy man. I had a chauffeur and a suitcase and travelled constantly from one place to the next. "But, under Mrs Thatcher's government, we also had roaring inflation. The value of property might have increased enormously - but so did rents. "Our Horsefair shop rent went from ?26,000 to ?81,000 almost overnight." T

President Rajapaksa yesterday said that national security is the Government’s prime concern and the Government takes every possible effort to ensure that terrorism would not raise its ugly head on Sri Lanka soil again. Addressing the Colombo based foreign diplomats at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday President Rajapaksa said the Government’s policy on democracy and human freedom remains unchanged. He added that his Government was dedicated to protect and promote democracy and human freedom when it was fighting the most ruthless terrorist outfit in the world. He said the Government rescued the people from the grip of LTTE terrorists who deprived them of their democratic rights and human freedom. “We had no other option than launching a humanitarian operation to restore the human freedom and democratic rights of the people. The President said the Government held the Eastern Province election in May 2008 after it was completely liberated from the clutches of terrorism with the sole purpose of strengthening the democratic institutions of the country. The people in the Northern Province exercised their franchise after a lapse of 28 year and they have deviated from the policies of narrow and petty politics. These people seem to be rallying around the mainstream political parties, he added. President Rajapaksa said the Government succeeded in resettling more than 70 percent of people who were kept as a human shield by LTTE terrorists at the height of the war on terrorism. He said the Government in a bid to further promote democracy, relaxed certain provisions of the Emergency Regulations after several decades. President Rajapaksa emphasized that the Government focused special attention on the amendment of Emergency Regulations . He said the Security Forces are still recovering large hauls of ammunition and weapons hidden by the LTTE. The President said the vestiges of LTTE terrorists in foreign countries are using various maneuvers to destabilize the Government. He stressed that the infamous election that was held in several countries to form what they termed a Transitional Government of Eelam is part of this massive campaign. President Rajapaksa added that the Government is not in a position to curb the LTTE activities in foreign countries and therefore certain provisions of the Emergency Regulations has to be kept untouched. He added that the expression made by a handful of people are not the majority view of the people and requested the foreign diplomats to apprise such information to their respective countries after they were verified from the Foreign Ministry and the Government. The President stressed that the Government led by him will not leave the younger generation to bear the pains of terrorism that had destroyed thousands of lives and valuable properties in Sri Lanka. He said the Government would soon establish a Commission for National Reconciliation to heal the wounds of the people of all communities who were affected by the conflict. This Commission will review the conflict period in Sri Lanka from 2002 to May 2009. He said the Commission comprising the professionals of various communities will carry out their duties protecting the dignity, independence of the country. He added that the Northern Provincial election will be held soon to give an opportunity to the people in the province to select the representatives of their choice. The end of terrorism and promotion of democracy gave more confidence to the country to forge more closer ties with the outside world, he added. President Rajapaksa said the people of this country have given him a mandate to protect and promote democracy and human freedom. He said the country has been treading on the Non Aligned path and maintaining very close ties with China, India and Japan. “We have very cordial relations with countries in the Asia, Africa an European regions too,” he added. He commended the countries which were supportive to the Government’s endeavour to eradicate terrorism. The People of my country have very high regards for the countries which supported our Government’s mission against the terrorism,” he added. External Affairs Minister Prof G.L. Peries also spoke. Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa was also present.