By Anne Adams
From its establishment in the 1930s until it was destroyed by fire in 1989 the B&B Café was a community favorite – a place to get a meal or just a cup of coffee and to spend time with friends. And for many years besides being an important landmark on the south side of the courthouse square it also had a tradition that at one time in the 1930s one customer had been the infamous Clyde Barrow of Bonnie and Clyde fame.
An early media notice for the café was in the Athens Review for June 8, 1939 when on their fifth anniversary the owners were doing some remodeling. Proprietors Mr. and Mrs. Walter Barrow were also happy to display the enlarged space – now occupying about 2500 square feet and also the modern glass front on the building. The new banquet room, seating some 100 persons was decorated in ivory and mahogany, and the main café area seated 66 diners.
According to this report, the B & B Café first opened in March, 1934 to occupy just a small section of the building where it was later located, and was owned by Mr. Barrow who had previously operated a restaurant in Kilgore. Then nearly sixty years later the cafe was destroyed by fire on an unusually cold night in 1989. According to the February 7, 1989 Athens Review, Athens Fire Department personnel arrived about 3:30 a.m. that morning. Their captain described it - “the fire looked like the whole south side of town was burning.” Besides fighting the blaze, firefighters had to protect the adjacent buildings, which included a bank.
Even the firefighters battling the blaze were sad to see the destruction. Waylon Padgett, assistant fire chief told the reporter, “It’s a shame to see it go…I’ve had many a good cup of coffee there.”
After the fire the adjacent First State Bank continued in operation the next day though the employees had to wear their winter coats as they coped with the choking smoke that had seeped in through the firewall.
Then a few years later the only remaining reminder of the eatery - a hanging neon sign – was removed. In her article in Sunday, May 7, 1995, Toni Garrard Clay, then a Review Staff Writer and now Communications Coordinator for the Athens School Independent District, elaborated on the origins of the origins of the B & B Café. She related that in 1900 George W. Allison purchased the property in Athens, first built a dry goods store in 1928 and then built the café a few years later. The two B’s were for Walter and his son, a name that remained throughout the years.
So what the story about Clyde Barrow? Well, according to Ms. Clay’s sources, the bank robber was a cousin of Walter Barrow’s and Clyde was a café customer occasionally – but only in the kitchen. These low key visits were necessary to avoid the possible presence of another regular customer - renowned local sheriff Jess Sweeten. However, according to Ms. Clay’s source, the cousins weren’t close and “Clyde was always an embarrassment to Walter.”
But mostly in its time the B&B Café was popular because of the many friends who gathered to eat but also to drink coffee and talk. “That’s where the worldwide problems were solved,” said Roy Parnell who first became a regular about 1948 about the time he built the nearby Texan Theater. The café opened about 5 a.m. and Parnell and the other customers would be there then, and then drop in several other times during the day, including a gathering about 4 p.m. when they stopped for that nickel cup of coffee and another chat.
The caption of the sign removal pictures in the May 7, 1995 article related that the “The downtown landmark remained perched for six years after the 1989 fire that destroyed the café.” The sign had been purchased by someone in Jefferson, Texas. Now the B&B Café would only live in memories.