COACH NOW COFFEE-STALL

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 August 1933, Page 12

COACH NOW COFFEE-STALL

ONCE BORE ROYAL WREATHS Thousands patronise a London coffee-stall little realising that it once figured in one of the most impressive State functions of recent history. The occasion was the funeral of King Edward VII when this vehicle, specially built for the purpose, carried (lie- wreaths and other tributes of the mourning nations to Windsor Castle. Known to-day ns the “Silver Badge” coffee stall, this former State coach is now the property of Mr. G, I*. Devlin, an ex-Service man. Il is pitched outside Olympia al Kensington. “When I was discharged from the Army at the end of the war I asked for this coach as part of my gratuity as a disabled soldier.” Mr. Devlin told a “Sunday Chronicle” reporter.

That, was 14 years ago. For nine years the coach was forgotten bv the world. '

“After I had it converted into a coffee stall I wanted to give it a distinctive name. All sorts of names occurred to me, but none was quite what I wanted. Then one morning I received my badge as an ex-Service man and my wife suggested calling it the “Silver Radge.” Until recently the stall bore the hooks from which the wreaths hung, but as they were in the way they had to be removed. Illuminated with dozens of coloured electric bulbs, this erstwhile State coach has a reputation as the brightest coffee stall in London.