Black and White Café

The Black and White Café was a cafe in St Pauls, Bristol in the United Kingdom, that opened in 1971.[1] The Caribbean food café had a reputation as a drug den and was raided more times by the police than any other premises in the country.

Events during a 1980 police raid on the cafe were a catalyst for the St Pauls riot.[1] The cafe remained a centre for drug dealing and violent turf wars through the 1990s, with a peak in the early 2000s,[2] and raids also revealed weapons and illegal immigrants.[3] The Guardian dubbed the cafe "Britain's most dangerous hard drug den".[4]

The cafe closed in 2004 under legal action as a result of new anti-social behaviour legislation[3] and was later demolished.[5]

Bertram Wilks

Bertram Wilks is a well-known member of the Bristol community. Born in Clarendon, Jamaica, in 1938, Wilks moved to the U.K in 1959. He opened the Black and White Café in the St Pauls district of Bristol in 1971.[5] Wilks has been featured in the books Policing Notting Hill: Fifty Years of Turbulence, by Tony Moore,[6] and Uprising! The Police, the People and the Riots in Britain's Cities by Martin Kettle and Lucy Hodges.[7]

Wilks is the father of singer-songwriter and producer Emmanuel Anebsa (born Stephen Emmanuel Wilks).

References
  1. "Infamous cafe could close". BBC. 28 January 2003. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  2. The Guardian: Britain's most dangerous hard drug den
  3. Jason Bennetto (25 June 2004). "Legendary Jamaican drugs cafe is closed". The Independent. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  4. Thompson, Tony; correspondent, crime (8 February 2003). "Britain's most dangerous hard drug den". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  5. "Legendary Jamaican drugs cafe is closed". The Independent. 26 June 2004. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  6. Moore, Tony Mphil; Blair, Lord (1 July 2013). Policing Notting Hill: Fifty Years of Turbulence. Waterside Press. ISBN 9781904380610.
  7. "Burnt out police cars, St Pauls riots, Bristol 1980". Flickr. Retrieved 27 March 2017.

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